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THE  SOCIALIZED  CONSCIENCE 


THE 
SOCIALIZED  CONSCIENCE 


BY 


JOSEPH  HERSCHEL  COFFIN 

PROFESSOR  OF  PHILOSOPHY 
EARLHAM  COLLEGE 


BALTIMORE 

WARWICK  &  YORK,  Inc. 

1913 


Copyright,  1913.  by 
Warwick  &  York,  Inc. 


PREFACE. 

To  the  practical  minded  student,  whether  pros- 
pective teacher,  lawyer,  physician,  or  merchant,  tra- 
ditional ethics  seems  to  offer  little  in  the  way  of  sug- 
gestion for  the  solution  of  many  of  our  newly  created 
moral  problems.  To  him  the  discussions  often  seem 
formal  and  abstract.  And  yet  the  big  fact  remains 
that  if  these  problems  are  ever  to  be  finally  solved, 
their  solution  must  be  worked  out  in  harmony  with 
moral  law. 

The  purpose  of  this  book  is  to  suggest  in  present 
day  psychological  and  sociological  terms  a  working 
hypothesis — a  moral  criterion — by  means  of  which 
the  different  types  of  moral  situations  may  be  met 
with  some  degree  of  consistency.  The  author  has 
attempted  to  state  in  clear  and  untechnical  terms  a 
point  of  view  with  regard  to  the  moral  life;  and  has 
sought  to  show  how  it  may  be  applied  in  dealing 
with  typical  moral  situations.  There  is  also  a  dis- 
tinct pedagogical  advantage  in  demonstrating  the 


VI  PREFACE. 

unity  of  the  moral  life  with  all  other  phases  of  life. 
Ethics  need  not  be  formal  and  abstract  provided 
morality  be  related  to  the  institutional  life  of  society. 

Earlham  College,  J.  H.  C. 

September,  1913. 


CONTENTS. 


PKEFACE. 


CHAPTER  I.  MORAL  CONTROL:  Moral  Control 
in  Primitive  Society ;  Moral  Control  in  Civil- 
ized Society;  Conscience  in  the  Race;  Con- 
science in  the  Individual 1 

CHAPTER  II.  THE  MORAL  SITUATION  :  Psycho- 
logical Analysis;  Social  Character  of  the 
Moral  Situation 31 

CHAPTER  III.  PERSONALITY  AND  THE  MORAL 
CRITERION  :  Meaning  of  Personality ;  Growth 
of  Personality;  Personality  and  the  Social 
Institutions;  The  Moral  Situation  and  the 
Social  Institutions;  The  Moral  Criterion.  .  45 

CHAPTER  IV.  THE  CRITERION  APPLIED — THE 
HOME:  Divorce  and  Morality;  Marriage 
Entered  into  too  Lightly;  Sex  Immorality; 
Friction  within  the  Home;  Application  of 
Criterion 71 

CHAPTER  V.  THE  CRITERION  APPLIED — THE 
SCHOOL  AND  OTHER  EDUCATIONAL  AND  CULTU- 
RAL AGENCIES:  The  School — Moral  Obliga- 
tion of  the  School;  Efficiency  and  Morality; 
Consumption  and  Morality;  Special  School 
Duties;  Personal  Obligation.  The  Press — 
The  Press  an  Educational  Agent;  Ethical 

Til 


VIII  CONTENTS. 

Significance.  The  Stage— Stage  a  Perma- 
nent Institution;  Moral  Value  of  Stage,  In- 
dividual and  Social.  Amusement — Amuse- 
ment and  Personality Ill 

CHAPTER  VI.  THE  CRITERION  APPLIED — THE 
VOCATION  :  Economic  Organization  and  Per- 
sonality ;  The  Moral  Principle ;  Ethical  Prob- 
lems; Publicity  and  the  Socialized  Con- 
science  145 

CHAPTER  VTT.  THE  CRITERION  APPLIED — THE 
STATE  :  Moral  Significance  of  the  State ;  The 
Function  of  the  State ;  Moral  Problems ;  Per- 
sonal Duty 179 

CHAPTER  VIII.  THE  CRITERION  APPLIED — THE 
CHURCH:  Personality  and  Religion;  Duty 
of  the  Church  to  Society ;  The  Church  as  an 
Organized  Agent  of  Righteousness ;  Personal 
Obligation 203 

CHAPTER  IX.  THE  MORAL  IDEAL:  Morality 
and  Progress;  Personal  Progress;  Social 
Progress 221 

Bibliography 237 

Index.  241 


THE  SOCIALIZED  CONSCIENCE 
Personality  and  the  Moral  Order 


CHAPTER  I. 
-2  7  £  6"4^ 
MORAL   CONTROL. 


Moral  control  in  general. — The  majority  of  man- 
kind desires  to  be  moral;  the  great  institution  of 
morality  is  proof  of  this  fact.  There  is  always  a 
lively  minority  which  is  in  rebellion  against  the 
mandates  of  society,  and  which  is  forever  out  of  ad- 
justment with  the  laws  which  safeguard  the  common 
welfare.  But  the  social  development  of  the  past  has 
been  possible  only  upon  the  basis  of  such  common 
standards  of  justice,  honor,  and  righteousness  as 
have  been  attained. 

There  are  indeed  wide  differences  of  moral  prac- 
tice observable  within  any  social  group  and  between 
different  groups;  but  these  are  to  be  explained,  in 
part  at  least,  by  the  fact  that  men  have  not  yet  come 
to  entire  agreement  as  to  what  constitutes  morality. 
Their  differences  in  practice  depend,  to  a  certain 
extent,  upon  differences  in  theory.  Moral  control  is 
not  yet  unified ;  for  while  all  members  of  every  group 
feel  in  greater  or  lesser  degree  the  force  of  a  moral 
control  of  some  kind,  they  do  not  all  recognize  the 
authority  of  the  same  control. 

i 


2  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

It  is  the  task  of  any  book  on  ethics  to  give  a  state- 
ment of  what  this  common  control  ought  to  be;  what 
that  moral  authority  is  to  which  all  members  of 
society  owe  their  allegiance.  It  is  obvious  that  the 
greatest  welfare  of  society  and  its  members  can  be 
secured  only  when  all  are  living  in  harmony  with  a 
commonly  accepted  standard  of  conduct,  and  when 
there  is  mutual  cooperation  in  the  attempt  to  realize 
life's  purposes.  Ethics  must  point  the  way  to  a  sys- 
tem of  rational  principles  and  ideals  which  may  thus 
be  taken  as  a  criterion  of  conduct. 

The  moral  ideals  of  any  generation  are  the  out- 
growth of  the  ethical  thinking  and  practice  of  pre- 
ceding generations;  they  represent  a  higher  stage  in 
a  continuous  process  of  evolution  which  is  always 
taking  place  in  men 's  concepts  of  morality.  It  will 
therefore  assist  us  greatly  in  our  attempt  to  under- 
stand what  the  moral  authority  ought  to  be  under 
modern  conditions,  to  review  briefly  the  nature  of 
moral  control  as  it  existed  in  the  past,  beginning 
with  primitive  society;  we  may  then  distinguish  its 
general  characteristics  in  present  day  society. 

I.  MORAL  CONTROL  IN  PRIMITIVE  SOCIETY. 
Group  solidarity. — Primitive  society  is  character- 
ized first  by  its  group  solidity  and  by  the  simplicity 
of  its  organization.  "A  Kafir  feels  that  the  'frame 
that  binds  him  in'  extends  to  the  clan.  The  sense 
of  the  solidarity  of  the  family  of  Europe  is  thin  and 
feeble  compared  to  the  full-blooded  sense  of  corpo- 


MORAL   CONTROL.  3 

rate  union  of  the  Kafir  clan.  The  claims  of  the  clan 
entirely  swamp  the  rights  of  the  individual.  The 
system  of  tribal  solidarity,  which  has  worked  so  well 
in  its  smoothness  that  it  might  satisfy  the  utmost 
dreams  of  the  socialist,  is  a  standing  proof  of  the 
sense  of  corporate  union  of  the  clan.  In  olden  days  a 
man  did  not  have  any  feeling  of  personal  injury  when 
a  chief  made  him  work  for  white  men  and  then  told 
him  to  give  all,  or  nearly  all  of  his  wages  to  his  chief ; 
the  money  was  kept  within  the  clan,  and  what  was 
the  good  of  the  clan  was  the  good  of  the  individual 
and  vice  versa.  The  striking  thing  about  this  unity 
of  the  clan  is  that  it  is  not  a  thought-out  plan  im- 
posed from  without  by  legislation  upon  an  unwilling 
people,  but  it  is  a  felt-out  plan  which  arose  sponta- 
neously along  the  line  of  least  resistance.  If  one 
member  of  the  clan  suffered,  all  members  suffered, 
not  in  sentimental  phraseology,  but  in  real  fact."1 

The  various  activities  which  must  be  carried  on 
in  the  clan  are  those  pertaining  to  the  necessities  of 
life.  They  are  the  activities  involved  in  the  securing 
of  food,  in  the  avoidance  of  danger,  in  the  adminis- 
tration of  justice  and  in  the  performance  of  religious 
rites  and  ceremonies.  These  activities  are  carried  on 
by  the  group  as  a  whole.  At  first  there  is  no  division 
of  labor;  there  are  no  settled  occupations.  Every 
member  of  the  tribe  contributes  his  part  to  the  com- 
mon good  by  engaging  in  all  the  activities.  These 


'Quoted  in  Dewey  and  Tufts :  Ethics,  p.  19. 


4  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

activities  seem  to  fall  into  three  classes:  economic, 
political  and  religious. 

The  economic  activities  of  obtaining  food  by  hunt- 
ing, fishing,  or  pasturing  are  performed  coopera- 
tively. The  men  go  forth  in  a  group  upon  their  hunt- 
ing or  fishing  expeditions  and  return  the  product  of 
their  labor  to  the  common  store-house.  In  the  mat- 
ter of  the  necessities  of  life  primitive  society  is  com- 
munistic; as  long  as  there  is  food  for  one,  all  alike 
may  share.  No  one  may  reserve  and  withhold  any- 
thing for  his  own  comfort  and  benefit  while  others 
are  in  need. 

In  like  manner,  the  group  functions  as  a  whole  in 
what  may  be  called  the  political  relations.  These 
relations  are  also  of  a  very  primitive  sort.  In  deal- 
ing with  refractory  members  and  in  meting  out  jus- 
tice to  them  the  tribe  as  a  whole  renders  the  decision. 
The  situation  is  discussed  in  the  council  and  the  ad- 
vice of  the  old  men  and  the  chiefs,  together  with  the 
customs  and  traditions  handed  down  from  other  gen- 
erations, constitute  the  ruling  force.  Perhaps  there 
is  no  severer  punishment  that  could  be  meted  out  to 
a  delinquent  member  than  the  disapproval  of  his 
group.  Another  kind  of  political  situation  is  that 
caused  by  unpleasant  relations  with  other  tribes.  In 
case  of  war  the  whole  tribe  functions  as  a  unit;  a 
course  of  action  is  decided  upon  after  deliberation 
in  the  council  chamber,  and  the  whole  tribe  partici- 
pates in  the  preparations  for  war.  There  are  war 
dances,  feasts,  religious  rites,  and  ceremonies  in 


MORAL   CONTROL.  5 

which  all  take  part;  afterwards  all  the  men  make 
their  way  to  the  field  of  battle  in  the  manner  dictated 
by  custom. 

As  in  the  economic  and  political  relations,  so  in 
religious  matters  the  members  of  the  clan  or  tribe 
are  to  be  regarded  collectively  rather  than  as  indi- 
viduals. For  primitive  races  religion  consists,  not 
in  a  feeling  of  a  personal  relationship  between  the 
individual  and  God,  as  is  the  case  to  a  greater  or 
lesser  extent  among  all  civilized  peoples,  but  in  a 
system  of  rites  and  ceremonies.  Primitive  religion 
is  entirely  objective;  it  is  a  tribal  relation.  These 
rites  and  ceremonies  are  performed  by  the  whole 
group,  or  by  a  priest  or  medicine-man  in  the  presence 
of  and  on  behalf  of  the  group.  Whatever  the  nature 
of  the  beliefs  or  superstitions,  the  god  is  the  god  of 
the  tribe,  and  as  such  receives  homage  and  sacrifice 
from  the  tribe  as  a  whole.  The  appeal  of  the  group 
is  made  through  ritual  and  ceremony — the  expres- 
sion of  the  superstitious  and  suggestible  nature  of 
primitive  man. 

Custom. — A  second  characteristic  of  primitive 
society  is  that  it  is  possible  for  the  group  thus  to 
function  as  a  unit  through  the  channel  of  custom. 
Custom  may  perhaps  best  be  defined  as  a  popularly 
approved  mode  of  acting.  In  each  of  the  various 
kinds  of  group  activity  referred  to  there  are  pre- 
scribed or  customary  ways  of  acting;  these  are  never 
called  in  question  or  criticized.  For  example,  in  the 
economic  activities  there  are  customary  ways  of  or- 


6  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

ganizing  for  the  hunt,  or  customary  and  approved 
forms  of  weapons  and  implements.  Huts  are  built 
according  to  a  uniform  pattern,  and  are  placed  in  a 
certain  relation  to  each  other.  In  war,  there  are  cer- 
tain approved  methods,  approved  not  necessarily  be- 
cause they  are  superior  or  the  most  reasonable,  but 
simply  because  that  is  the  way  in  which  the  enter- 
prise has  been  carried  on  in  the  past.  Each  tribe  has 
its  peculiar  war  dress  and  its  peculiar  mode  of  fight- 
ing. Moreover  justice  is  meted  out  according  to  cer- 
tain customary  modes;  while  the  dominance  of  cus- 
tom in  the  religious  life  of  primitive  people  is  a 
familiar  fact. 

There  are  also  customs  other  than  those  governing 
the  economic,  political,  and  religious  life  of  the  peo- 
ple, strictly  speaking;  for  example,  each  tribe  has  its 
peculiar  customs  regarding  the  education  and  train- 
ing of  the  young  men.  There  are  usually  a  number  of 
initiation  ceremonies  through  which  they  must  pass 
as  they  are  brought  into  full  standing  as  adult  mem- 
bers of  the  tribe;  ceremonies  in  which  superstition 
and  mystery  have  a  large  share;  ceremonies  which 
serve  to  impress  the  youth  with  the  authority  of  cus- 
tom and  with  respect  for  the  old  men  of  the  tribe; 
ceremonies  by  means  of  which  the  traditions  of  the 
tribe  are  fixed  in  the  minds  of  those  just  maturing 
into  active  membership.  Again,  each  tribe  has  its 
peculiar  marriage  customs — sometimes  very  simple 
and  again  very  complex.  Likewise  there  are  cus- 
toms governing  the  burial  of  the  dead.  In  summary 


MORAL,   CONTEOL.  7 

we  may  say  then  that  all  of  the  vital  activities,  both 
primary,  such  as  the  securing  of  food  and  the  avoid- 
ance of  danger,  and  secondary,  such  as  education  and 
marriage,  are  carried  on  through  custom  and  tradi- 
tion. And  it  is  by  means  of  custom  that  the  unity 
and  solidarity  of  the  group  is  maintained. 

Closely  connected  with  custom  is  what  is  known 
as  taboos;  indeed  taboos  may  be  regarded  as  nega- 
tive customs  which  are  "invested  with  peculiar  and 
awful  sanctions."  "They  prohibit  .  .  contact 
with  certain  persons  or  objects  under  penalty  of  dan- 
ger from  unseen  beings.  Any  events  supposed  to  in- 
dicate the  activity  of  spirits,  such  as  birth  and  death, 
are  likely  to  be  sanctified  by  taboos.  The  danger  is 
contagious;  if  a  Polynesian  chief  is  taboo,  the  ordi- 
nary man  fears  even  to  touch  his  footprints.  But  the 
taboos  are  not  all  based  on  mere  dread  of  the  un- 
seen. .  .  They  may  be  used  with  conscious  pur- 
pose. In  order  to  have  a  supply  of  cocoanuts  for  a 
religious  festival  the  head  men  may  place  a  taboo 
upon  the  young  cocoanuts  to  prevent  them  from 
being  consumed  before  they  are  fully  ripe.  The  con- 
ception works  in  certain  respects  to  supply  the  pur- 
pose which  is  later  subserved  by  ideas  of  property. 
But  it  serves  also  as  a  powerful  agent  to  maintain 
respect  for  the  authority  of  the  group. '  '2 

Origin  of  custom. — The  question  as  to  the  origin 
of  custom  both  in  its  positive,  ritualistic  form,  and  in 
the  negative  form  of  taboo,  is  a  difficult  one. 

*Dewey  and  Tufts :  Ethics,  p.  55. 


8  THE    SOCIALIZED    CONSCIENCE. 

Psychology,  however,  offers  a  helpful  suggestion. 
Analysis  shows  that  there  are  three  ways  of  learning: 
the  trial  and  error  method,  learning  by  imitation, 
and  learning  through  the  understanding.  In  apply- 
ing this  suggestion  to  the  question  as  to  the  origin 
of  custom,  we  may  presume  that  a  primitive  group, 
or  some  member  of  it,  faces  a  new  situation  of  some 
kind — economic,  political,  or  religious — and  that,  it 
being  a  new  situation,  there  is  no  past  experience  by 
which  action  may  be  definitely  guided.  But  some 
reaction  is  imperative;  and  since  no  customary 
action  is  adequate,  the  individual  strikes  out  in  a  new 
direction;  a  trial  is  made.  If  the  result  of  this  trial 
action  is  unsatisfactory  or  unpleasant,  some  other 
reaction  will  be  made  in  the  future  when  the  same 
situation  arises.  But  if  the  result  is  satisfactory, 
or  at  least  not  unpleasant,  the  individual  or  group 
will  probably  react  the  same  way  in  the  future,  and 
thus  a  habit  will  develop.  Other  individuals  or  gen- 
erations will  find  it  much  easier  to  imitate  those 
actions  which  have  already  proved  satisfactory  than 
to  try  out  new  methods,,  or  to  study  the  situation 
with  a  view  to  rationalizing  the  reaction.  Thus  cus- 
tom develops  in  the  group  much  as  habit  develops  in 
the  individual.  And  whether  or  not  the  custom  is 
rational,  that  is,  well  suited  to  the  ends  sought,  it 
soon  becomes  invested  with  popular  approval  and 
superstitious  sanction. 

Primitive    morality. — A    third    characteristic    of 
primitive  society  is  that  morality  consists  in  blind 


MORAL   CONTROL.  9 

obedience  to  custom  and  observance  of  taboos.  It 
would  appear  that  there  could  be  no  morality  under 
primitive  conditions  such  as  have  been  described 
where  each  individual 's  life  is  prescribed  and  hedged 
about  by  custom.  This  is  true  if  we  take  the  term 
morality  in  its  modern  meaning;  that  is,  if  we  hold 
that  morality  presupposes  a  certain  degree  of  indi- 
vidual freedom  of  choice  and  initiative,  personal  re- 
sponsibility, and  a  body  of  moral  laws  as  distinct 
from  other  law.  But  if  we  use  the  term  morality 
in  the  larger  and  more  literal  sense  as  synonymous 
with  control  of  some  kind — mores — then  we  shall 
indeed  find  the  beginnings  of  morality  in  primitive 
society.  To  be  moral  from  the  primitive  point  of 
view,  is  simply  to  live  in  conformity  with  custom. 
To  live  rightly  is  to  respect  and  obey  the  time-hon- 
ored customs  which  each  generation  receives  as  its 
heritage  from  preceding  generations. 

It  is  difficult  for  us  to  conceive  a  moral  situation 
in  which  the  individual  has  no  freedom  of  choice  or 
action;  yet  this  is  precisely  the  condition  in  primitive 
life.  As  a  result  there  is  no  feeling  of  personal  re-, 
sponsibility.  And  as  a  further  result  the  whole  clan 
must  stand  responsible  for  all  the  acts  of  all  its  mem- 
bers. For  example,  if  a  member  of  one  clan  takes  the 
life  of  a  member  of  another,  the  latter  feels  itself 
avenged  if  it  can  take  the  life  of  some  member  of  the 
former,  whether  or  not  it  be  the  individual  who  com- 
mitted the  original  crime.  In  a  more  general  sense 
it  is  also  true  that  the  primitive  ^an  does  not  have 


10  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

what  we  are  pleased  to  call  a  personal  conscience. — 
that  which  constitutes  for  us  the  very  core  and  es- 
sence of  morality.  The  primitive  man's  action  is 
conditioned  from  without r  not  from  within,  hence  not 
only  has  he  no  need  for  conscience,  hnt  any  inner 
force  which  might  lead  him  to  criticize  cnstom  and 
to  act  in  any  other  than  the  customary  way  wonld 
itself  be  condemned  in  primitive  society  as  wrong. 

Primitive  peoples  are  perhaps  even  more  sensitive 
to  the  opinions  of  each  other  than  are  those  who  are 
more  civilized  and  therefore  more  independent ;  and 
as  customs  are  popularly  approved  ways  of  acting, 
any  one  who  fails  to  conform  to  cnstom  lays  himself 
open  to  social  disapproval.  So  it  is  the  external  fac- 
tor of  cnstom  as  a  popularly  approved  way  of  acting 
that  conditions  the  primitive  man's  acts,  instead  of 
the  subjective  factor  of  conscience.  Indeed  the  lat- 
ter would  be  out  of  place  and  could  not  survive  in 
any  but  a  society  where  a  higher  degree  of  indi- 
.  viduality  is  present.  All  acts  prescribed  by  custom 
are  equally  right,  and  disobedience  to  one  custom  is 
as  wrong  as  disobedience  to  any  other.  It  would  be 
just  as  wrong  to  build  the  hut  with  the  door  on  the 
north  side  instead  of  the  south,  if  custom  demanded 
the  latter,  as  it  would  to  secrete  a  portion  of  the  com- 
mon store  of  food  for  one's  personal  use;  or  it  would 
be  just  as  wrong  to  fail  to  put  the  war  paint  on  in 
the  approved  style  as  to  neglect  to  perform  some  re- 
ligious ceremony.  Hence  there  is  in  primitive  society 
no  morality  separate  from  and  independent  of  cus- 


MOBAL   CONTROL.  11 

torn;  the  two  things  are  identical:  to  obey  custom  is 
to  be  moral. 

Krf*t>-  -f/>fn   cmmfyic* 

Custonyfis  thus  seen  to  be  of  incalculable  practical 
and  moral  value  in  primitive  society.  It  binds  the 
group  together  and  furnishes  a  common  response  for 
common  situations.  It  makes  a  more  or  less  ade- 
quate reaction  possible  in  a  society- whose  members 
are  on  so  low  an  intellectual  level  that  they  could  not 
survive  by  living  alone  and  attempting  to  adjust 
-thomDclvcg  -single-handed  to  a  hostile  -envi«>»ffiettt. 
Custom  enables  the  primitive  group  to  adjust  itself 
more  or  less  adequately  to  its  total  environment;  it 
makes  possible  that  social  solidarity  which  is  so 
essential  to  survival.  On  the  moral  side  the  value  of 
custom  is  equally  great ;  just  as  the  moral  law  is  the 
conditioning  factor  of  social  health  in  modern  so- 
ciety, so  is  custom  the  conditioning  factor  of  tribal 
health  and  efficiency.  It  furnishes  that  cementing 
force  which  makes  it  possible  for  primitive  men  to 
work  for  common  ends  and  to  realize  even  a  degree 
of  inner  peace  and  harmony.  We  not  uncommonly 
think  that  might  makes  right  without  redress  in 
primitive  society;  but  custom  delivers  the  group 
from  the  unrestrained  tyranny  of  brute  strength  and 
guarantees  at  least  a  form  of  justice  to  its  members. 
It  provides  a  certain  uniformity  of  tribal  action  in 
all  the  essential  situations  of  life,  and  thus  makes 
the  latter  less  the  slave  of  impulse  and  emotion. 

This  analysis  is  sufficient  to  show  that  there  is  a 
type  of  moral  control  even  in  primitive  society ;  and 


12  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

that  it  exercises  an  absolute  authority  over  the  mem- 
bers of  the  tribe.  But  this  moral  control  is  entirely 
objective;  it  is  not  the  expression  of  an  inner  evalua- 
tion of  ends,  an  inner  rationalization  of  life.  It  is 
held  in  solution  in  the  group  as  a  whole  and  does  not 
arise  from  any  inner  consciousness  in  the  individual 
of  the  inherent  Tightness  or  wrongness  of  acts.  Per- 
sonal conscience  does  not  exist;  a  thing  is  right,  not 
because  of  its  rational  appeal  but  because  tradition 
and  custom  demand  it.  Moral  control  becomes  sub- 
jective when  the  rational  level  of  culture  is  reached, 
and  when  the  rationality  of  obligation  and  responsi- 
bility is  realized.  Only  when  each  new  generation  is 
taught  the  meaning  and  authority  of  conscience  as 
previous  generations  were  taught  the  authority  of 
custom  and  tradition,  has  morality  become  subjec- 
tive; and  only  then  have  the  higher  levels  of  morality 

been  attained.  ;  ^*  . 

„  ~  -   -  *  -*\?* 

II.    MORAL  CONTROL  IN  CIVILIZED  SOCIETY. 

Characteristics  of  civilization. — But  what  is  the 
nature  of  moral  control  in  civilized  society?  In  order 
to  answer  this  satisfactorily  we  need  to  bring  to 
mind  some  of  the  prominent  characteristics  of  civili- 
zation. On  the  side  of  the  individual,  civilization 
means  increased  intelligence.  Men  have  attained  a 
high  degree  of  rationality  and  have  arrived  at  an 
understanding  of  their  world.  Superstition  has  given 
way  in  large  measure  to  the  freedom  of  knowledge, 
and  the  standard  of  living  has  indefinitely  advanced. 


MOBAL  CONTBOL.  13 

In  a  word,  civilization  produces  the  Christian  gentle- 
man in  contrast  to  the  brute-man  of  savagery. 

On  the  side  of  society  the  difference  is  equally 
great.  Civilization  means  superior  social  organiza- 
tion ;  this  is  seen  in  all  the  important  aspects  of  life. 
On  the  economic  side,  the  processes  of  food  getting 
and  of  providing  for  the  other  necessities  of  life  are 
indefinitely  specialized.  Division  of  labor  is  intro- 
duced very  early  in  social  evolution,  and  from  that 
time  forth  civilization  is  a  continuous  process  of 
further  and  further  specialization.  In  the  beginning 
each  man  made  his  own  crude  mocassins ;  in  the  end 
each  pair  of  shoes  is  the  product  of  the  skilled  labor 
of  a  host  of  specialists.  In  like  manner  the  affairs 
of  government  are  carried  on  by  a  group  of  special- 
ists; while  the  education  of  the  young  is  given  over 
to  a  vast  educational  system.  Also  the  home  and  the 
church  add  their  quota  to  the  perfection  and  refine- 
ment of  the  race.  In  a  word,  again,  civilization  pro- 
duces a  superior  social  organization  in  which  the  five 
great  social  institutions  stand  out  as  the  supreme 
achievements. 

Custom  in  civilized  society. — It  will  be  seen  at  once 
that,  owing  to  the  greatly  increased  individual  in- 
telligence and  to  the  superior  social  organization, 
the  activities  of  the  individual  are  extremely  varied 
as  compared  with  conditions  in  primitive  society. 
As  a  result  there  is  not  as  clear  a  field  for  the  opera- 
tion of  custom;  men  no  longer  need  to  do  a  given 
thing  in  concert;  rather  they  need  to  carry  on  a 


14  ^v    THE  SOCIALIZED  CONSCIENCE. 

countlessVvariety  of  activities  at  one  and  the  same 
time.  It  is  obvious  that  custom  can  no  longer  dom- 
inate the  lives  of  the  individuals  with  the  same  au- 
thority as  under  primitive  conditions.  In  a  society 
as  highly  specialized  as  ours  it  is  impossible  that 
men  should  behave  in  all  the  details  of  their  varied 
life  with  the  uniformity  possible  and  necessary  in 
primitive  society.  Hence  custom  cannot  hold  the 
place  in  modern  life  that  it  did  in  primitive  society. 

But  it  has  been  seen  that  custom  was  the  cement- 
ing force  that  bound  society  together  in  early  times ; 
it  was  the  chief  factor  in  rescuing  primitive  man 
from  social  and  moral  chaos.  It  is  evident  then  that 
unless  something  comes  in  to  take  the  place  of  cus- 
tom as  it  breaks  down,  social  and  moral  chaos  must 
ensue.  As  has  been  intimated,  another  factor  does 
appear;  namely,  conscience.  Objective  control  in 
the  form  of  custom  gives  place  in  a  measure  to  sub- 
jective control;  each  member  of  society  develops  a 
personal  conscience  as  an  organic  part  of  a  growing 
individuality,,  the  laws  of  which  we  shall  presently 
discuss.  And  we  shall  have  achieved  the  highest 
standard  of  the  moral  life  when  every  man  recog- 
nizes and  bows  down  to  the  moral  law  within  his 
own  breast. 

But  this  must  not  be  taken  to  mean  that  custom 
will  eventually  cease  to  exist  and  to  exercise  control 
over  the  conduct  of  men.  The  fact  is  that  custom 
and  conscience  are  organic  to  each  other;  they  are 
mutually  supplementary,  and  an  ideal  moral  state 


MORAL   CONTROL.  15 

would  involve  both.  Custom  in  society  is  analogous 
to  habit  in  the  individual;  it  is  a  great  organizer  of 
familiar  and  oft-repeated  acts.  Habit  in  the  indi- 
vidual is  a  great  economizer  of  time  and  energy  in 
that  it  enables  one  to  perform  many  acts  automati- 
cally; that  is,  without  the  aid  of  attention.  Atten- 
tion is  thus  left  free  to  engage  itself  with  new  and 
problematic  situations.  Likewise  custom  in  civil- 
ized as  well  as  in  primitive  society  provides  a  more 
or  less  adequate  response  for  familiar  and  unessen- 
tial situations;  it  reduces  the  amount  of  social  fric- 
tion and  makes  group  life  tolerable  by  providing 
all  members  with  a  common  reaction  for  frequently 
recurring  situations.  The  customs  of  civilized  so- 
ciety need  to  be  continually  subjected  to  the  critical 
light  of  reason,  however,  in  order  that  none  of  an 
irrational  nature  may  survive  and  become  a  hin- 
drance to  further  progress.  They  must  be  made  the 
servants  of  reason  and  not  allowed  to  become  its 
master.  It  is  therefore  evident  that  while  the  sub- 
jective factor  of  conscience  is  the  essence  of  moral 
control  in  civilized  society,  there  is  a  legitimate  field 
for  the  operation  of  objective  control  in  the  form  of 
custom;  and  that  the  really  desirable  condition  is  a 
proper  coordination  of  the  two. 

Objective  and  subjective  nature  of  moral  con- 
trol.— Let  us  go  a  little  more  deeply  into  this  two- 
fold nature  of  moral  control.  To  begin  with,  it  must 
be  remembered  that  society  as  a  whole  profoundly 
influences  the  individuals  of  which  it  is  composed. 


16  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

When  we  recall  that  the  child  of  educated  and  civil- 
ized parents  makes  its  start  from  practically  the 
same  basis  as  that  from  which  the  child  of  savage 
parentage  begins,  it  will  be  clear  that  the  mature 
man  of  education  and  culture  is  the  product  of  a 
countless  variety  of  social  forces.  It  is  his  rich 
social  heritage  that  enables  him  to  become  what  he 
is.  All  the  achievements  of  the  race  are  at  hand  to 
be  used  by  him  and  to  help  him  to  achieve  his  high 
level  of  conscious  life  with  the  least  possible  require- 
ment of  time  and  energy  on  his  part. 

Now  what  is  true  of  man's  debt  to  society  in  gen- 
eral is  true,  in  a  special  sense,  of  his  debt  to  it  on  the 
moral  side.  The  organic  relation  of  the  subjective 
and  the  objective  aspects  of  moral  control  becomes 
evident.  Since  every  act  of  each  person  potentially 
affects  society  directly  or  indirectly,  society  de- 
mands the  right  to  dictate  to  the  individual  limits 
within  which  he  must  choose,  and  to  say  what  kinds 
of  situations  are  vital  enough  to  be  called  moral, 
what  are  the  highest  ends,  and  what  principles 
should  govern  conduct.  I  say  that  society  dictates 
the  " limits  within  which"  these  things  shall  be  de- 
cided by  the  individual;  primitive  society  dictates 
unconditionally,  as  we  have  seen;  but  as  the  result 
of  the  individualistic  tendencies  of  the  past  and  the 
increase  of  efficiency  of  individual  judgment,  the  in- 
dividual now  enjoys  a  considerable  degree  of  free- 
dom in  which  he  may  use  his  own  judgment  and  rea- 
son. Nevertheless  the  individual's  judgment  comes 


MOBAL  OONTBOL.  17 

into  contact  at  every  point  with  the  social  judgment, 
and  each  person's  initiative  is  everywhere  hedged 
about  by  custom  and  the  unwritten  moral  law. 

Hence  it  is  clear  that  the  moral  standard  is  both 
subjective  and  objective  in  nature.  It  is  the  joint 
product  of  individual  thinking  and  feeling  and  of 
social  pressure  in  the  form  of  custom,  tradition,  and 
public  opinion.  Owing  to  the  instinctive  tendency 
in  each  person  to  imitate  and  to  desire  the  approval 
of  his  fellows,  this  social  pressure  becomes  an  ex- 
tremely important  factor  in  the  moral  judgment  of 
the  individual ;  and  this  in  turn  increases  the  signifi- 
cance of  social  pressure.  Objective  control  in  its 
various  forms  may  be  regarded  as  the  crystallized 
deliverance  of  society  as  to  how  men  should  act  and 
think  in  general.  It  provides  the  "limits  within 
which"  men  may  use  their  own  judgment  as  to  what 
is  right  and  wrong.  Of  course  the  obverse  of  this  is 
also  true:  society  in  turn  is  made  up  of  these  same 
individuals,  and  the  objective  side  of  the  moral 
standard  is  profoundly  influenced  by  the  thought 
and  feeling  of  those  who  compose  society.  In  this 
way  the  two  phases  become  supplementary,  the  one 
acting  as  a  check  upon  the  other. 

The  criterion  of  morality  is  too  big  a  thing  to  have 
its  existence  within  the  restricted  circle  of  the  indi- 
vidual's life;  it  extends  in  the  third  dimension  into 
the  very  heart  of  society  and  binds  the  two  together 
in  such  a  way  that  progress  in  the  one  makes  for 
progress  in  the  other.  The  fact  of  this  reciprocal 


18  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

relation  throws  light  upon  the  oft-discussed  question 
as  to  whether  the  essence  of  morality  lies  in  the 
motive  to  the  act  or  in  its  consequences.  The  truth 
is  that  it  lies  in  neither  exclusively,  but  in  both. 
Both  phases  of  the  moral  standard  are  operative 
every  time  the  standard  is  applied  to  a  moral  situa- 
tion to  determine  its  value. 

III.     CONSCIENCE  IN  THE  RACE. 

The  growth  of  individuality. — Inasmuch  as  con- 
science is  the  key  to  the  control  of  the  moral  life  of 
the  present,  it  will  be  helpful  in  what  is  to  follow  to 
make  a  more  careful  study  of  the  origin  and  nature 
of  conscience.  We  shall  later  have  to  define  the  cri- 
terion of  morality  in  terms  of  conscience;  moreover 
the  application  of  the  moral  law  to  the  moral  situa- 
tions of  the  present  is  very  largely  a  matter  of  en- 
lightening the  consciences  of  men;  so  a  thorough 
understanding  of  this  factor  is  not  only  helpful  but 
necessary. 

It  was  pointed  out  above  that  in  the  primitive 
group  the  individuality  of  the  members  of  the  tribe 
is  merged  with  what  we  might  call  the  commonality 
of  the  group.  Now  in  order  to  trace  out  the  develop- 
ment of  conscience  it  will  be  necessary  to  follow  up 
the  development  of  individuality  and  show  how  it 
emerges  from  the  commonality  of  the  group.  This 
growth  in  individuality  is  contemporary  with  and 
dependent  upon  the  growth  of  reason  and  under- 
standing in  the  race  and  the  individual.  Ever  since 


MOBAL   CONTBOL.  19 

man  began  to  think  about  his  conduct  at  all  and  to 
try  to  rationalize  it,  he  has  sought  to  find  some  fun- 
damental principle  in  terms  of  which  he  could  deter- 
mine the  Tightness  and  wrongness  of  his  acts;  some 
principle  by  which  his  action  might  be  unified  and 
organized.  This  effort  has  been  aided  by  the  uncon- 
scious operation  of  the  law  of  natural  selection, 
which  would  tend  to  fix  those  modes  of  reaction  that 
are  most  adequate  and  to  eliminate  those  that  are 
inferior.  The  principle  of  natural  selection  operat- 
ing through  the  means  of  trial  and  error  and  through 
imitation  would  tend  to  stamp  in  customs  which 
were  best  adapted  to  the  ends  sought;  that  is,  those 
that  were  most  rational. 

But  the  factor  of  understanding  must  be  reckoned 
with  more  and  more  as  human  development  pro- 
ceeds. Understanding  criticizes  in  an  increasing 
degree  the  customary  reactions  of  a  people  and  dis- 
covers new  modes  of  reaction  which  are  more  ra- 
tional and  which  enable  the  individual  or  group  to 
make  always  an  increasingly  superior  adjustment  to 
its  total  environment,  both  physical  and  social. 

Moreover,  progress  in  the  matter  of  the  under- 
standing must  always  come  as  the  result  of  some  one 
individual's  thought.  It  does  not  come  through  a 
concerted  effort  in  the  way  in  which  custom  may 
develop  by  concerted  reaction  through  imitation, 
but  through  the  initiative  of  the  individual.  This 
development  in  the  ability  to  reason  gives  rise  to  a 
greater  and  greater  individuality  on  the  part  of  the 


20  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

members  of  the  tribe.  This  increase  manifests  itself 
by  way  of  a  partial  reaction  from  the  group  feeling 
of  solidarity  and  blind  observance  of  custom.  On 
the  other  hand  it  is  equally  true  that  this  partial 
breaking  away  from  custom  gives  increased  opportu- 
nity for  further  growth  in  intelligence  and  reason. 
While,  in  the  beginning,  the  individuality  of  the 
members  of  the  group  is  lost  or  merged  in  the  group 
itself,  through  the  growth  of  understanding  and  rea- 
son the  members  of  the  group  find  themselves ;  they 
come  into  possession  of  their  powers;  they  gain  a 
new  control  over  the  means  of  life,  both  inner  and 
outer.  In  a  word,  they  begin  to  realize  their  person- 
alities. 

Let  us  look  at  this  development  in  a  little  more 
detail.  In  spite  of  the  dominance  of  custom  in  primi- 
tive life  and  the  superstitious  reverence  with  which 
it  is  held  to,  there  must  have  been  individuals  here 
and  there  who  chafed  at  its  restraints.  Here  is  a 
man,  for  example,  a  little  above  the  average  in  intel- 
ligence who  challenges  the  right  of  blind  custom  to 
dictate  his  every  vital  act.  Accordingly  he  dares  to 
act  in  a  more  individual  manner;  he  deviates  a  little 
from  the  fixed  mode  of  conduct,  and  perhaps  as  a 
result  realizes  a  greater  satisfaction.  This  marks 
the  beginning  of  individuality. 

This  growing  individuality  is  accompanied,  partly 
as  cause  and  partly  as  effect,  by  increased  intelli- 
gence. Practical  reason,  which  means  the  ability  to 
profit  by  past  experience,  supplements  habit  and  imi- 


MORAL   CONTROL.  21 

tation;  and  this  development  works  itself  out  along 
all  lines  in  which  custom  has  heretofore  held  sway 
and  particularly  in  those  actions  which  minister  to 

/5^?u/3S 

the  needs  of  life.  As  jfribfrB  increase  in  size,  food  be- 
comes increasingly  scarce;  and  he  who  manifests  the 
greatest  resourcefulness  or  intelligence  is  the  one 
who  most  easily  survives  and  is  the  greatest  bene- 
factor to  the  group.  This  fact  naturally  tends  to 
stimulate  individual  methods  and  endeavor.  Or 
again,  one  man  finds  that  he  can  do  one  thing  more 
easily  and  with  greater  skill  than  others.  For  ex- 
ample, in  the  primitive  group  each  man  makes  his 
own  weapons  and  tools;  he  also  performs  all  the 
other  activities  necessary  to  life.  But  perhaps  one 
individual  turns  out  a  superior  bow  or  arrow  because 
of  superior  skill  or  capacity.  It  would  be  natural 
thenceforth  for  him  to  make  bows  and  arrows  for  his 
less  skillful  fellows,  and  in  turn  to  receive  a  portion 
of  the  spoils  of  the  hunt  in  which  they  have  partici- 
pated. As  a  result  barter  and  trade  grow  up  and 
division  of  labor  develops.-*  C£ 
—The  moral  aignifioanoe  ef- individuality. — Nor  is 
this  tendency  toward  individualism  without  its  moral 
significance.  As  individual  initiative  and  action  de- 
velop, custom  must  lose  more  and  more  of  its  author- 
ity over  the  separate  members  of  the  tribe.  The  tribe 
will  regard  with  a  constantly  decreasing  degree  of 
reverence  those  commonly  approved  modes  of  action 
which  have  been  sanctioned  by  past  generations; 
and  their  superstitious  fears  regarding  the  conse- 


22  THE    SOCIALIZED    CONSCIENCE. 

(W,  pfftSf&P1*) 

quences  of  disobedience  to  them  will  also  disappear.  \. 
But  it  has  already  been  shown  that  primitive  moral- 
ity consists  simply  in  observing  the  customs  of  the 
tribe.  This  means,  therefore,  that  as  customs  break 
down  or  are  disregarded  through  the  increasing 
force  of  individuality,  all  there  is  of  morality  is  in 
danger  of  disappearing;  and  unless  something  else 
arises  to  take  the  place  of  disappearing  custom  moral 
chaos  must  obtain. 

But  just  as  individuality  emerges  in  all  the  other 
relations  of  life,  so  also  does  it  make  its  appearance 
as  a  new  factor  in  those  relations  which  we  call 
moral  in  the  strict  sense.  ,  That  which  we  call  con- 
science and  moral  «f»w  begins  to  develop  as  a  com- 
pensatory factor  in  a  society  which  is  freeing  itself 
more  and  more  from  the  authority  of  blind  custom 
and  which  is  becoming  less  and  less  primitive.  As 
thevsemi-civilized  £nan  begins  to  feel  the  joys  of  in- 
dividual conquest  and  achievement  he  realizes  a  new 
and  exhilarating  feeling  of  freedom  and  a  sense  of 
personal  independence.  While  he  is  in  the  first  flush 
of  this  stimulating  sense  he  is  likely  to  trespass  upon 
the  rights  of  others.  But  slowly,  even  tardily,  the 
compensatory  feeling  of  responsibility  develops. 
This  comes  through  the  observation  on  the  part  of 
each  individual  that  others  also  lay  claim  to  a  like 
freedom,  and  that  each  one  is  held  responsible  by 
all  the  others  for  the  acts  which  he  does  in  the  name 
of  freedom.  It  is  a  hard  lesson  and  painfully  learned ; 
but  it  is  learned.  And  gradually  also  each  individual 


MORAL   CONTROL.  23 

begins  to  hold  himself  responsible  for  his  own  acts. 
In  like  manner  each  individual  learns  from  the  same 
hard  master — experience — that  each  right  claimed 
in  the  name  of  freedom  involves  a  corresponding  ob- 
ligation.   Each  member  is  held  under  obligation  by 
society  and^  finally,  by  himself  for  the  rights  which 
nrr  nTfVjffifrw^  when  progress  has  gone  so  far  that 
each  new  generation  is  taught  the  meaning  of  obli- 
gation   and   responsibility   as   former    generations 
learned  the  authority  of  custom,  then  individual 
-morality  has  come  into  its  own  and  a  personal  con- 
-seience  is  a  part  of  each  man's  moral  constitution. 

IV.     CONSCIENCE  IN  THE  INDIVIDUAL. 

We  have  traced  briefly  the  process  by  which  con- 
science comes  to  be  a  part  of  our  racial  inheritance. 
It  now  remains  for  us  to  analyze  the  process  by 
which  it  is  developed  in  the  individual,  and  by  which 
it  comes  to  have  authority  over  his  conduct.  Civil- 
ized men  pretty  generally  recognize  the  existence 
within  consciousnes  of  some  "faculty"  or  inner  au- 
thority which  is  supposed  to  provide  them  with 
knowledge  of  good  and  evil,  and  which  at  the  same 
time  prompts  to  the  performance  of  right  acts.  It  is 
to  the  further  analysis  of  this  supposed  "faculty" 
or  inner'  authority  known  as  personal  conscience 
that  we  must  now  turn. 

Rationalistic  view. — Historically,  there  have  been 
many  theories  regarding  the  origin  and  nature  of 
conscience  in  the  individual.  Prominent  k  among 

V- , 


24  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

these  are  the  rationalistic  and  empirical  theories. 
In  general,  the  rationalists  maintain  that  there  are 
implanted  within  the  mind  of  man  certain  innate 
ideas;  the  human  mind  is  so  constructed  that  there 
are  certain  fundamental  notions  organic  to  it.  For 
example,  no  one  needs  to  be  shown  that  the  whole  is 
greater  than  any  of  its  parts,  that  things  equal  to 
the  same  thing  are  equal  to  each  other,  or  that  every 
event  must  have  a  cause.  These  are  self  evident, 
axiomatic  truths;  the  mind  knows  them  intuitively. 
In  like  manner,  it  does  not  need  to  be  demonstrated 
that  murder  is  wrong,  or  that  stealing  and  lying  are 
sinful.  -These  are  also  self  evident  truths.  God,  in 
His  creative  wisdom,  has  implanted  within  the 
human  mind  certain  great  principles  concerning 
right  and  wrong.  This  intuitive  knowledge  of  right 
and  wrong  is  what  we  call  conscience.  Conscience, 
for  the  rationalist,  then  is  an  inner  eye,  or  sense,  or 
feeling  which  immediately  discovers  to  us  moral 
truth,  and  prompts  us  to  choose  the  good.  Some  ra- 
tionalists hold  that  intuition  is  a  safe  and  sure  guide 
in  each  particular  situation  which  arises,  while 
others  hold  that  we  have  by  intuitive  knowledge  a 
few  great  fundamental  moral  principles  and  that  one 
must  rely  upon  judgment  and  reason  for  the  appli- 
cation of  these  principles  to  specific  cases. 

In  criticism  of  this  view  it  may  be  urged,  in  the 
first  place,  that  an  anthropological-*i«dy  of  the  races 
of  the-earth  shows  that  there  are  no  moral  principles 
whatever  which  are  universally  accepted.  The  dis- 


MORAL   CONTROL.  25 

crepancy  between  the  moral  standards  of  the  differ- 
ent civilized  races  is  not  so  great.  But  when  we 
come  to  compare  me^moral  practices  of  one  primitive 
race  with  those  of  another,  or  of  primitive  with  civil- 
ized races,  we  find  almost  no  common  ground.  By 
some  races,  lying  and  stealing  are  looked  upon  as 
desirable  accomplishments;  and  even  murder  under 
certain  conditions  is  approved.  Further,  such  ques- 
tions as  honor,  chastity,  amusement,  and  the  like, 
receive  various  moral  interpretations  even  among 
civilized  peoples. 

But  if^as  the  rationalist  argues,  moral  principles 
are  theyjintumve  possession  of  the  mind  of  man,  we 
should  expect  to  find  a  much  greater  degree  of  unity 
of  thought,  feeling,  and  practice  than  the  facts  in- 
dicate./j?o*y  Qo  fo  J1  *  *f\ 

^^J^^    —         """"  »^ "J^*"^"^"*^-^^*^^..  I  J^IL  '    •""  \ 

In  the  second  place,  bjfological  science  has  sug- 
gested the  evolutionary  point  of  view  with  regard 
to  morals.  We  no  longer/  regard  the  moral  standard 
as  a  finished,  permanent  thing,  but  as  a  dynamic, 
growing  ideal.  We  hate  already  seen  in  the  previ- 
ous section  that  morality  undergoes  a  very  radical 
change  as  individuality  emerges  from  the  common- 
ality of  tHe  group.  But  rationalistic  doctrine,  in 
order  to  be  consistent,  would  be  obliged  to  hold  that 
conscience  is  an  a  priori  mental  endowment  common 
to  all  men  of  all  times.*  **}M  »e<~>  " 


'V/ 

Empirical  view.— But  an  even  more  telling  criti- 
cism against  rationalism  is  that  which  is  brought 
forward  by  the  empiricists.  Empiricism  denies  out- 


26  THE    SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

right  the  fundamental  tenet  of  rationalism,  namely, 
the  existence  of  innate  ideas.  The  mind  of  the  new- 
born child,  it  maintains,  is  like  a  blank  tablet  upon 
which  experience  must  write.  No  knowledge,  ideas, 
or  intuitions  are  inherited;  knowledge  of  moral 
values,  like  every  other  kind  of  knowledge,  must  be 
acquired  through  experience.  This  experience  covers 
a  very  wide  field.  In  his  play  the  child  soon  learns 
that  nature  has  her  uniform  properties  and  modes  of 
action,  and  that  violation  of  her  laws  always  brings 
pain.  In  the  home,  his  contact  with  parents,  broth- 
ers and  sisters,  and  playmates  teaches  him  that  there 
are  individual  rights  and  social  laws  which  cannot 
be  violated  without  consequent  disapproval  or  pun- 
ishment. The  school,  and,  later,  society  and  the 
state  through  public  opinion,  social  pressure,  and 
law  all  unite  to  impress  upon  him  the  fact  that  some 
types  of  conduct  are  desirable  and  others  undesir- 
able. The  whole  institution  of  education,  through 
all  of  its  agencies,  contributes  to  the  individual's 
development  in  morals  as  in  all  other  lines.  The 
great  teachers  in  this  school  of  experience  are  pleas- 
ure and  pain.  Acts  which  bring  pleasure  and  satis- 
faction are  right,  while  those  which  result  in  pain 
and  dissatisfaction  are  wrong.  Since  one  of  the" 
greatest  sources  of  satisfaction  is'  the  approval  of 
one's  fellow  men,  those  acts  which  secure  for  the 
agent  this  approval  are  morally  good,  as  well  as 
those  which  result  immediately  in  pleasure  or  satis- 
faction; this  furnishes  the  basis  for  sympathy  and 


MORAL   CONTROL.  27 

altruism.  In  a  word,  all  moral  standards  represent 
the  condensed  experience  of  man  arising  in  connec- 
tion with  the  total  environment,  physical,  mental, 
and  especially -seeiftf;  and  conscience. is  the  acquired 
knowledge  of  the  agent  regarding  the  expediency  of 
certain  kinds  of  conduct.  <?»</  of  parf  ZZZL 

Synthetic  view. — Of  the  two  theories  considered, 
empiricism  seems  to  be  least  objectionable.  And 
yet  in  making  its  sweeping  denial  of  the  fundamen- 
tal tenet  of  the  rationalist,  namely,  the  doctrine  of 
innate  ideas,  the  empiricist  has  gone  too  far.  He 
has  denied  in  the  name  of  innate  ideas  that  organiz- 
ing principle  within  experience  which  gives  it  unity 
of  purpose,  and  which  makes  personality  possible. 
The  fact  is  that  conscience  cannot  be  entirely  ex- 
plained upon  the  basis  of  either  of  these  theories 
alone.  A  deeper  psychological  analysis  shows  con- 
, science  to  be  exceedingly  complex.  It  is  not  to  be  re- 
garded as  any  single  mental  faculty  isolated  from 
other  functions  of  mind ;  but  is  rather  to  be  consid- 
ered as  the  whole  of  consciousness  functioning  in  a 
moral  situation.  Eegarded  in  this  way,  the  ra- 
tionalist is  right  in  so  far  as  conscience  presupposes 
the  ability  to  judge.  Judgment,  which  is  one  of  the 
highest  thought  processes,  involves  both  an  a  priori 
element  and  an  a  posteriori  element,  the  former  con- 
stituting the  original  forms  of  thought  and  the  latter 
supplying  the  content  of  judgment  through  experi- 
ence. Our  definition  is  therefore  a  synthesis  of  cer- 
tain elements  of  both  rationalism  and  empiricism. 


28  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

An  adequate  discussion  of  conscience  as  thus  defined 
would  demand  a  statement  of  the  whole  psychology 
of  thinking,  which  would  be  out  of  place  in  this  brief 
analysis.  It  will  be  sufficient  therefore  to  suggest 
that  in  all  thinking,  conscience  functions  only  when 
there  is  a  problem,  that  is,  in  this  case,  when  a  moral 
situation  is  presented. 

Besides  the  thought  processes,  conscience  presents 
certain  affective  aspects ;  there  are  feelings  of  pleas- 
antness and  satisfaction  toward  the  object  of  choice, 
or,  it  may  be  feelings  of  remorse  and  regret.  Finally, 
on  the  volitional  side,  conscience  cannot  be  regarded 
as  having  fully  functioned  until  the  choice  and  de- 
cision have  resulted  in  action.  In  a  word  then,  con- 
science is  the  term  we  apply  to  the  whole  of  con- 
sciousness in  its  intellectual,  emotional,  and  voli- 
tional aspects,  as  it  evaluates  moral  problems. 

In  conclusion  it  would  not  be  inconsistent  to  in- 
vest conscience  with  divine  sanction,  to  see  in  it  one 
of  God's  methods  of  revealing  His  will  to  man.  In- 
deed it  has  been  regarded  by  some  thinkers  as  the 
direct  voice  of  God — an  inner  divine  light  making 
plain  the  way  of  righteousness.  While  modern  psy- 
chology would  refuse  to  accept  this  simple  statement 
of  it,  nevertheless  if  it  "is  not  the  voice  of  God  in 
the  mind  of  man,  it  at  least  speaks  for  those  powers 
in  human  nature  which  raise  him  above  the  animals 
and  link  him  to  what  is  highest  in  reality — his  com- 
prehensive intelligence,  his  free  will."8 

•Wright :  Self  Realization,  p.  55. 


MOEAL   CONTROL.  29 

We  may  therefore  consistently  hold  that  in  the 
evolution  of  the  race  towards  biological,  psychical, 
and  social,  as  well  as  moral  perfection,  conscience  is 
one  of  the  greatest  of  Divine  Laws. 

QUESTIONS  AND  TOPICS  FOE  FURTHER  STUDY. 

1.  Do  individual  rights  exist  in  primitive  society  ? 

2.  Is  there  any  connection  between  morality  and  re- 
ligion for  primitive  man? 

3.  Make  a  study  of  the  nature  and  function  of  "men's 
houses"  or  men's  clubs  in  primitive  society. 

4.  Give  examples  of  educational,  marriage,  and  burial 
customs.    Also  find  instances  of  taboos  other  than  those 
mentioned  in  the  text. 

5.  What  factors  contribute  to  the  development  of  indi- 
viduality ? 

6.  Are  animals  moral  agents  ? 

7.  At  about  what  age  does  a  child  'come  to  the  age  of 
accountability'  ? 

8.  What  argument  is  there  against  the  statement  on 
page  10  that  "civilization  means  increased  intelligence"? 

9.  What  are  the  factors  in  the  development  from  cus- 
tom to  conscience? 

10.  What  is  meant  by  the  summum  bonum  t   What  dif- 
ferent types  of  theory  are  there  concerning  this  ? 

11.  From  what  point  of  view  may  conscience  be  de 
fined  as  a  sentiment? 

12.  What  is  the  value  of  conscience  for  human  life  ant 
welfare  in  general? 

13.  Is  there  such  a  thing  as  a  moral  instinct?     (01 
Kirkpatrick:  Fundamentals  of  Child  Study,  Ch,  XII.) 


30  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

REFERENCES. 

ON  PRIMITIVE  SOCIETY  AND  PRIMITIVE  MORALITY. 
Dealey :  Sociology,  Ch.  II,  and  pp.  146-165. 
Dewey  and  Tufts :  Ethics,  Ch.  II,  IV. 
Mackenzie :  Manual  of  Ethics,  Bk.  I,  Ch.  IV. 

ON  CONSCIENCE,  ITS  NATURE  AND  ORIGIN. 

Dewey  and  Tufts:  Ethics,  Ch.  V;  Ch.  XX,  §1. 

Thilly:  Ethics,  Ch.  Ill,  IV. 

Wright :  Self  Realization,  Pt.  I,  Ch.  IV. 


CHAPTER  II. 
THE  MORAL  SITUATION. 

I.    PSYCHOLOGICAL  ANALYSIS. 

Moral  versus  non-moral  action. — Even  a  cursory 
examination  of  the  moral  life  will  make  it  plain  that 
only  a  part  of  our  conduct  can  be  called  morally  good 
or  morally  bad.  Indeed  the  major  portion  of  life 
daily  round  of  life  is  merely  immoral.  Obviously  we 
are  not  concerned  here  with  that  portion  of  life 
which  is  unmoral.  Ethics  is  the  science  of  morality 
and  it  becomes  necessary  in  the  first  place  to  define 
the  subject  matter  of  our  science.  Not  only  is  it  true 
that  some  acts  are  blame-  or  praise-worthy  and 
others  morally  indifferent,  but  it  is  also  true  that 
under  certain  conditions  a  given -act  may  be  good  or 
bad  and  under  other  conditions  simply  unmoral.  For 
example,  under  ordinary  conditions  it  is  neither 
good  nor  bad  to  take  a  walk;  it  is  merely  unmoral. 
But  circumstances  might  be  such  that  this  act  would 
be  praiseworthy,  or  under  still  other  conditions  that 
it  would  be  wrong.  Now  the  question  is:  What  is 
it  that  makes  an  act  good  or  bad  under  one  set  of 
conditions,  and  morally  indifferent  under  other  con- 
ditions ?  We  must  distinguish  the  characteristics  of 

31 


32  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

the  moral  situation,  in  order  that  we  may  confine  our 
attention  to  it  and  leave  all  others  out  of  account. 

Voluntary  action  necessary  to  moral  conduct. — 
The  first  characteristic  that  a  moral  situation  must 
have  is  that  the  act  concerned  must  be  voluntary; 
there  must  be  freedom  of  choice  and  knowledge  of 
what  he  is  doing  on  the  part  of  the  agent.  On  the 
one  hand,  voluntary  action  as  opposed  to  automatic 
and  reflex  action  has  a  conscious  motive  which  deter- 
mines the  nature  and  direction  of  the  act.  On  the 
other  hand,  voluntary  action  as  opposed  to  action 
under  compulsion  presupposes  the  freedom  of  choice 
referred  to.  An  action  would  be  neither  right  nor 
wrong,  the  conditions  of  which  were  entirely  beyond 
one's  control  or  in  which  there  was  no  motive  or  free- 
dom of  choice.  For  example,  a  slave  in  doing  a  crim- 
inal act  at  the  command  of  his  master,  or  a  soldier 
in  carrying  out  the  order  of  his  superior  officer, 
would  not  be  held  morally  responsible  for  his  act. 
Indeed  unquestioning  obedience  in  both  cases  is  held 
to  be  a  virtue  no  matter  what  the  commission.  Or 
again,  in  an  accident  the  conditions  of  which  could 
not  have  been  changed  without  foreknowledge,  one 
in  not  responsible,  unless  indeed  foreknowledge 
might  have  been  had.  In  this  case  the  individual  is 
held  responsible  for  his  ignorance  and  is  therefore 
condemned  for  his  act.  This  phase  of  the  moral  sit- 
uation may  then  be  characterized  by  saying  that  the 
agent  must  have  a  certain  amount  of  freedom  of 


THE    MORAL   SITUATION.  33 

choice  and  must  know  what  he  is  about;  that  is,  he 
must  act  voluntarily. 

There  are  two  general  types  of  voluntary  action: 
impulsive  and  volitional.  The  impulsive  act  follows 
immediately  upon  an  idea  or  perception  which  is  ac- 
companied by  an  idea  of  pleasantness  or  unpleasant- 
ness. There  is  no  hesitation  or  thought,  but  as  soon 
as  attention  alights  upon  the  object  or  idea  the  re- 
action follows  immediately.  The  impulsive  act  is 
an  unreasoning  kind  of  conduct,  stimulated  by  the 
idea  of  pleasantness  to  be  gained,  or  of  unpleasant- 
nes  to  be  avoided,  thereby.  Each  individual  is  held 
morally  responsible  for  his  impulsive  acts  inasmuch 
as  it  is  the  character  back  of  them  that  makes  them 
what  they  are;  and  it  is  his  control  or  lack  of  control 
of  them  that  determines  their  moral  worth. 

Volitional  action  is  reasoned  action.  Preceding 
the  volitional  act  there  is  a  period  of  deliberation 
when  all  impulsive  tendencies  are  inhibited  and 
when  one  considers  rationally  the  possibilities  in 
and  the  probable  results  of  the  act.  Deliberation  is 
the  process  of  examining  in  the  state  of  active  atten- 
tion all  sides  of  a  question.  Presently  a  conclusion  is 
reached  and  a  choice  is  made.  This  is  the  kind  of 
action  that  constitutes  the  moral  situation  par  excel- 
lence because  it  represents  the  very  center  and  bat- 
tleground of  our  conscious  lives.  Moreover,  our  con- 
quests of  deliberation  and  choice  of  today  constitute 
our  standards  and  policies  of  tomorrow  and  finally 


34  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

make  up  that  fabric  of  habit  which  rules  so  large  a 
portion  of  our  lives. 

The  moral  situation  then  centers  around  voluntary 
activity,  the  highest  type  of  which  is  volitional 
action.  In  real  life  we  perform  very  few  volitional 
acts  as  compared  with  the  number  of  reflex,  instinc- 
tive, impulsive,  and  habitual  acts.  But  volitional 
action  is  performed  so  seldom  just  because  it  is 
usually  a  new  and  vital  situation  which  demands  the 
attentive  deliberation  and  choice  that  constitute  this 
kind  of  action.  It  is  through  our  volitional  acts  that 
our  policies  of  life,  our  character,  and  our  habits 
are  largely  determined ;  and  because  of  the  fact  that 
the  new  and  vital  situations  are  met  by  this  kind  of 
action,  that  volitional  acts  are  of  so  vast  importance 
both  in  a  general  way  and  from  the  point  of  view  of 
ethics.  The  essence  of  personality  is  that  the  conduct 
of  an  individual  shall  be  an  orderly  system  of  acts 
directed  towards  a  worthy  end  or  system  of  ends; 
and  it  is  the  deliberative  nature  of  the  volitional  act 
that  makes  it  the  determining  factor  in  character. 

Situation  must  be  vital. — The  next  point  to  be 
noticed  in  our  analysis  is  that  not  all  volun- 
tary acts  are  centers  of  moral  situations;  not 
every  situation  which  involves  choice  can  be 
said  to  be  a  moral  one.  I  may  choose  to  take 
one  route  to  town  rather  than  another,  in  which 
case  the  choice  is  simply  non-moral.  One  route 
is  as  good  as  another  and  nothing  of  particu- 
lar consequence  depends  upon  the  choice;  here  the 


THE   MORAL  SITUATION.  35 

choice  is  determined  by  some  consideration  which 
is  not  vital;  some  immediate  end  or  some  capricious 
desire  determines  me.  But  if  one  route  is  a  trifle 
shorter  than  thev  other  and  some  one's  life  depends 
upon  my  getting  to  the  physician  in  the  shortest  pos- 
sible time,  then  the  situation  becomes  a  moral  one 
and  I  am  under  moral  obligation  to  choose  the 
shorter  way.  Here  there  is  a  vital  consideration  in 
which  there  is  much  at  stake.  Or  if  I  choose  one 
route  in  order  to  avoid  meeting  a  man  to  whom  I  am 
in  debt,  the  choice  becomes  a  moral  one  because 
there  is  a  more  remote  end — a  consideration  of 
greater  weight — which  determines  my  choice.  More- 
over, this  kind  of  action  shows  forth  a  certain  phase 
of  character  which  is  vital,  and  therefore  of  moral 
significance.  "  Conduct  as  moral  may  thus  be  de- 
fined as  activity  called  forth  and  directed  by  ideas 
of  value  or  worth,  where  the  values  concerned  are 
so  mutually  incompatible  as  to  require  consideration 
and  selection  before  an  overt  action  is  entered 
upon. ' M 

The  act  involved  in  a  moral  situation  is  a  signifi- 
cant one;  that  is,  it  is  one  that  has  power  to  make 
either  for  or  against  life  in  its  totality.  This  includes 
all  phases  of  life  or,  as  Spencer  called  it,  the  com- 
plete life,  mental,  social,  and  spiritual  as  well  as 
physical.  It  may  be  the  life  of  the  individual  con- 
cerned or  it  may  be  that  of  another.  Thus  the  typi- 
cal moral  situation  is  not  merely  a  voluntary  act, 


'Dewey  and  Tufts :  Ethics,  p.  209. 


36  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

but  one  in  which  considerations  of  real  worth  are 
present,  and  in  which  one  must  choose  between 
values  which  are  incompatible.  Just  what  acts  make 
for  greater  length  and  breadth  of  life  and  just  what 
ones  tend  in  the  other  direction  is  often  difficult  to 
determine.  This  is  where  deliberation  comes  in. 
But  unless  we  are  so  pessimistic  as  to  believe  that 
life  is  not  a  good  but  is  a  curse,  we  have  here  found 
the  most  fundamental  sanction  for  morality.  If  any 
individual  is  as  pessimistic  as  to  see  no  good  in  life, 
then  the  whole  significance  of  moral  values  disap- 
pears and  for  him  there  can  be  no  such  thing  as  a 
set  of  moral  standards  which  are  equally  binding 
upon  him  and  upon  all  others. 

It  will  now  be  clear  that  those  acts  of  vital  signifi- 
cance which  make  for  greater  length  and  breadth  of 
life  either  of  oneself  or  of  others  are  good  and  those 
that  have  the  opposite  effect  are  bad.  This  is  ulti- 
mate; we  must  assume  that  life  is  a  good  or  there  is 
absolutely  no  basis  for  consistency.  It  will  be  further 
noticed  that  the  vitalness  of  acts  is  a  relative  matter. 
An  act  which  is  vital  at  one  time  or  for  one  person 
may  not  be  vital  at  another  time  or  for  another  per- 
son. This  is  the  point  at  which  good  judgment  and 
clear  insight  are  essential  factors.  Now  in  order  that 
life  may  be  consistent  it  is  necessary  that  there  be 
uniform  ways  of  judging  and  acting;  this  means  that 
men  must  have  standards  by  which  to  judge  as  to 
the  goodness  or  badness  of  action,  and  in  terms  of 


THE   MORAL   SITUATION.  37 

which  to  determine  their  own  conduct.  Such  a  set 
of  standards  we  have  in  the  form  of  moral  law — to 
live  in  harmony  with  which  is  to  be  moral. 

II.     SOCIAL  CHARACTER  OF  THE  MORAL  SITUATION. 

Vital  situations  arise  in  social  relations. — A  sec- 
ond important  characteristic  of  the  moral  law  is  that 
it  is  a  social  as  well  as  an  individual  and  personal 
affair.  We  have  just  examined  the  psychological, 
that  is,  the  individual  aspect  of  the  moral  situation, 
but  this  furnishes  us  with  only  half  the  truth.  The 
other  half  is  that  morality  grows  in  a  social  soil; 
moral  situations  arise  only  in  the  form  of  social 
problems  of  some  kind.  An  insight  into  the  organic 
relation  of  the  individual  to  society  makes  this  clear. 
We  have  to  think  of  human  character  as  the  product 
of  a  variety  of  social  forces ;  the  materials  whose  as- 
similation makes  for  mental  growth  are  of  social 
origin.  By  far  the  larger  proportion  of  those  expe- 
riences which  constitute  one's  education,  both  in  the 
broad  and  the  narrow  sense,  arise  out  of  social  rela- 
tions. Educators  talk  of  the  two  phases  of  the  edu- 
cative process;  namely,  impression  and  expression. 
On  the  side  of  impression  the  vast  majority  of  the 
stimuli  whose  apperception  constitutes  so  large  a 
share  of  education,  arise  out  of  social  relations.  They 
arise  in  the  home  through  contact  with  natural  ob- 
jects and  with  members  of  the  family  or  in  play;  or 
they  arise  in  the  school  through  contact  with  the 
teacher  and  fellow  pupils,  or  through  the  social 


38  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

achievement  of  the  past  as  it  is  presented  in  the  cur- 
riculum ;  or  later  they  arise  out  of  the  vocational  and 
political  relations  of  life.  Likewise,  on  the  side  of 
expression,  most  acts  which  an  individual  performs 
are  prompted  by  social  motives  and  are  directed  to- 
wards social  ends.  Those  things  which  seem  desir- 
able in  life  and  for  which  men  strive,  whether  wealth, 
or  position,  or  education,  are  desirable  because  of 
the  social  demand  for  them;  because  they  are  each 
centers  of  community  interest. 

And  even  more  particularly  is  it  true  that  in  all 
those  situations  which  we  term  moral  there  is  a 
social  reference  either  direct  or  indirect.  The  de- 
gree of  the  "socialness"  of  the  situation  may  vary 
greatly;  sometimes  it  may  appear  to  be  purely  a 
personal  matter.  But  modern  psychology  has  taught 
us  anew  that  "no  man  liveth  unto  himself":  it 
teaches  that  every  experience — even  the  secret 
thought — leaves  its  impress  which  is  likely  to  func- 
tion in  the  future  in  unexpected  ways. 

Social  complexity  indicates  moral  complexity.— 
Since  moral  situations  are  social  affairs  they  become 
numerous  and  complicated  just  in  proportion  to  the 
degree  of  general  social  organization.  Kecent  years 
have  seen  many  changes  in  the  social  structure,  all 
of  which  have  given  rise  to  new  and  perplexing 
moral  problems.  The  changes  to  which  reference  is 
made  are  those  which  have  come  with  our  modern 
industrial  expansion.  This  expansion  dates  from 
the  time  of  the  introduction  of  steam  and  the  result- 


THE   MORAL,   SITUATION.  39 

ing  machinery.  Before  this  the  necessities  of  life 
were  much  fewer  in  number  and  were  made  largely 
in  the  home  and  in  the  small  shop  and  by  hand. 
Easy  means  of  transportation  did  not  exist,  conse- 
quently the  demand  for  a  given  commodity  was  lim- 
ited. But  with  the  introduction  of  the  steam  engine 
and  its  possibilities  the  change  began  to  appear.  By 
the  aid  of  the  machine  it  was  possible  to  manufac- 
ture the  article  in  question  in  much  larger  quanti- 
ties and  at  the  same  time  much  more  cheaply.  More- 
over, machinery  made  possible  improved  means  of 
transportation,  and  all  these  things  together  caused 
a  constantly  increasing  demand  for  the  article.  This 
made  necessary  a  larger  supply,  which  in  turn  neces- 
sitated larger  factories  and  more  laborers ;  thus  grew 
up  our  large  manufacturing  centers  which  attract 
ever  more  and  more  laborers  to  them.  The  industrial 
age  is  the  age  of  cities;  and  with  the  crowding  to- 
gether of  people  in  large  cities  there  arises  a  count- 
less number  of  new  problems,  moral  as  well  as  social, 
political,  and  economic.  By  far  the  larger  number 
of  our  moral  problems  of  today  center  in  our  cities, 
and  their  number  is  legion.  For  example,  there  are 
those  connected  with  the  food  supply  of  the  city;  the 
milk  upon  which  the  health,  efficiency,  and  morals 
of  the  next  generation  largely  depend;  the  problem 
of  food  adulteration  which  is  of  like  importance; 
the  wholesale  practice  of  cheating  by  the  use  of  false 
weights  and  measures — these  as  well  as  many  others 
of  the  same  type  are  all  moral  as  well  as  economic 


40  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

problems.  The  moral  questions  which  center  in  cap- 
ital and  labor,  the  coal  mine,  the  machine  shop,  the 
textile  factory  are  all  comparatively  new,  at  least  in 
form,  and  present  some  of  the  most  difficult  prob- 
lems with  which  we  have  to  deal.  Or  again,  consider 
the  problems  which  confront  modern  modes  of  trans- 
portation and  communication,  creating  moral  situa- 
tions which  simply  did  not  exist  before  these  methods 
were  discovered. 

Not  only  is  there  a  large  number  of  difficulties 
which  spring  directly  from  these  new  economic  con- 
ditions, but  there  are  as  many  more  which  follow 
indirectly  from  them.  Paralleling  very  closely  these 
moral  problems  just  referred  to  there  are  new  legal 
problems.  The  political  situation  has  been  greatly 
complicated  by  the  industrial  expansion.  For  exam- 
ple, "machine  politics"  has  had  its  origin  and  devel- 
opment contemporarily  with  the  growth  of  the  city, 
which  in  turn  was  the  result  of  the  new  industrial 
expansion.  Machine  politics,  involving  the  "boss," 
and  the  "ward  heeler"  has  had  laid  to  its  charge 
an  unending  list  of  moral  sins.  Indeed  in  many  in- 
stances the  political  machine  has  become  the  organ- 
ized tool  of  wickedness.  It  is  the  very  apotheosis  of 
injustice  and  iniquity.  Government  becomes  de- 
bauched because  of  the  hordes  of  ignorant  immi- 
grants which  our  industrial  system  lures  to  our 
shores.  Furthermore,  the  temptation  is  always  pres- 
ent to  seek  the  allegiance  of  organized  vice  and  thus 
further  to  strengthen  a  political  machine.  The  saloon 


THE   MORAL   SITUATION.  41 

and  the  brothel  thus  widen  the  influence  of  the  poli- 
tical machines  of  our  cities,  and  in  return  the  law 
winks  at  these  enterprises.  These  same  enterprises 
thrive  in  the  kind  of  society  that  the  mining,  manu- 
facturing, and  railway  centers  attract  to  themselves. 

There  is  still  another  phase  of  the  political  prob- 
lem that  has  ethical  significance,  one  which  perhaps 
grows  out  of  the  unjust  combination  of  economic  and 
political  interests:  namely,  the  factor  of  so-called 
graft.  It  is  a  matter  of  common  knowledge  that  our 
political  and  economic  affairs  are  shot  through  and 
through  with  graft,  big  and  little.  This  is  not  the 
place  to  take  up  any  of  these  questions  for  detailed 
discussion,  but  this  may  serve  as  one  more  instance 
of  the  new  problems  which  the  science  of  ethics  faces 
today.  "We  are  not  affirming  that  graft  is  a  new 
thing,  but  that  there  is  a  myriad  of  new  ways  in 
which  graft  may  be  consummated  so  that  it  has  be- 
come a  much  more  virulent  problem  than  it  ever  was 
before. 

It  is  such  considerations  as  these  that  make  it 
necessary  for  us  to  reinterpret  our  moral  principles 
and  make  the  application  as  concrete  as  possible. 
As  is  seen  by  the  nature  of  the  problem,  this  re-inter- 
pretation must  be  made  from  the  social  point  of  view. 
In  other  words,  the  science  of  ethics  must  be  social- 
ized and  our  consciences  must  be  re-enlightened.  We 
need  to  become  more  keenly  aware  that  modern  so- 
ciety has  invented  a  countless  number  of  new  ways 
of  killing,  stealing,  and  lying.  We  profess  to  believe 


42  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

in  the  abstract  that  it  is  wrong  to  kill  and  steal  and 
lie;  but  we  are  not  keenly  enough  alive  to  the  new 
methods  of  accomplishing  these  ends ;  much  less  have 
we  made  the  readjustment  that  is  necessary  if  our 
practice  is  to  conform  to  our  theory.  It  is  with  this 
thought  in  mind  that  we  shall  attempt  in  the  next 
chapter  to  formulate  a  moral  criterion  broad  enough 
to  underlie  all  the  vital  phases  of  life,  yet  one  which 
is  applicable  to  the  concrete  needs  and  facts  of  our 
social  life. 

QUESTIONS  AND  TOPICS  FOR  FURTHER  STUDY. 

1.  What  is  the  moral  significance  of  instinctive  acts? 
Of  habits? 

2.  Give  five  examples  of  moral  situations,  as  distin- 
guished from  non-moral  situations. 

3.  What  can  be  said  against  the  doctrine  that  the 
moral  situation  is  always  a  social  situation? 

4.  What  is  the  meaning  of  the  term  'conduct'  ? 

5.  What  are  the  arguments  in  support  of  the  doctrine 
that  Ethics  is  concerned  with  the  whole  of  human  con- 
duct? 

6.  Make  a  list  of  moral  problems  that  are  found  in  the 
city,  which  are  not  found  in  the  country. 

7.  Give  specific  examples  in  which  a  political  machine 
has  been  a  tool  of  some  form  of  vice. 

8.  Is  Utilitarianism  adequate  to  the  social  problems  of 
today? 

9.  Make  a  classified  list  of  all  of  the  social  problems 
which  have  moral  significance. 

10.  Why  is  there  a  special  need  that  ethical  theory 
should  be  socialized? 


THE   MOBAL   SITUATION.  43 

REFERENCES. 

ON  THE  PSYCHOLOGY  OF  THE  MORAL  SLTUATION. 
Dewey  and  Tufts :  Ethics,  Ch.  X. 
Seth :"  Ethics,  Ch.  III. 
Spencer :  Data  of  Ethics,  Ch.  VII. 
Wright :  Self  Realization,  Pt.  I,  Ch.  I. 

ON  THE  SOCIAL  NATURE  OF  THE  PROBLEM. 

Hadley :  Standards  of  Public  Morals,  Ch.  I. 

Peabody:  The  Approach  to  the  Social  Question, 
Ch.  IV. 

Rauschenbusch :  Christianity  and  the  Social  Crisis, 
Ch.  V. 


CHAPTER  in. 
PERSONALITY  AND  THE  MOEAL  CRITERION. 

I.      MEANING  OF  PERSONALITY. 

Personality  contrasted  with  individuality. — In 
dealing  with  the  subject  of  morals  we  are  obliged  to 
presuppose  the  existence  of  persons  or  agents  who 
are  moral.  Personality  is  one  of  the  fundamental 
concepts  of  ethics;  a  psychological  analysis  of  it  is 
therefore  essential  in  formulating  our  ethical  stand- 
ards. We  must  accordingly  first  distinguish  between 
personality  and  individuality.  Individual  differ- 
ences, their  combinations  and  permutations,  consti- 
tute what  we  call  individuality.  Thus  it  is  possible 
to  attribute  the  latter  to  animals,  while  no  one  would 
claim  personality  for  them.  Of  course  individual 
differences  increase  the  differences  of  personality, 
but  the  real  essence  of  the  latter  lies  somewhere  else. 
It  must  be  understood  that  we  are  here  using  the 
term  personality  in  a  broader  sense  than  that  which 
is  given  it  by  popular  speech;  we  give  it  a  technical 
meaning.  To  put  it  briefly,  personality  is  possible 
only  to  those  creatures  who  are~endowed  with  a 
highly  developed  capacity  of  reason.  This  limits 
personality  to  man;  and  while  he  may  also  have  a 

45 


46  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

high  degree  of  individuality,  yet  it  is  in  virtue  of  his 
rationality  that  man  is  a  person. 

Let  us  illustrate  the  function  of  reason  in  man  by 
contrasting  his  life  with  the  life  of  the  animal.  The 
animal  lives  continually  in  the  present;  it  has  very 
little  if  any  time-sense.  Life  for  it  is  a  continuous 
succession  of  "now's."  The  case  of  the  squirrel  as 
it  gathers  nuts  for  next  winter  may  seem  to  be  an  ex- 
ception to  this,  inasmuch  as  it  appears  to  be  making 
plans  for  the  future.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  not  con- 
sciously planning  for  the  future;  its  action  is  not  the 
result  of  conscious  deliberation  and  choice;  it  cannot 
voluntarily  imagine  the  conditions  of  next  winter 
and  suit  means  to  ends  thus  imagined.  The  squirrel 
gathers  nuts  to  satisfy  a  present  need.  So  in  gen- 
eral; animals  do  not  have  conscious  plans  and  pur- 
poses with  respect  to  the  future;  they  live  from  mo- 
ment to  moment  in  response  to  blind  instinct.  Thus 
the  past  and  the  future  are  largely  shut  out  from 
their  experience,  and  they  are  limited  to  a  more  or 
less  continuous  present. 

Now  how  is  it  with  man?  It  is  obvious  that  the 
life  of  the  present  is  organically  bound  up  with  that 
of  the  past,  and  that  the  character  of  the  future  is 
dependent  upon  the  choices  and  decisions  of  the  pres- 
ent. Man  lives  an  "historical  life;"  life  for  him  is 
more  than  a  succession  of  now's;  it  is  a  continuous 
whole.  Moreover,  from  one  point  of  view,  man  also 
lives  in  the  future.  Of  course  the  future  can  never 
be  immediately  experienced;  but  man  lives  in  the 


PERSONALITY  AND  THE   MORAL  CRITERION.  47 

future  in  the  sense  that  the  experience  of  the  present 
is  continually  modified  by  his  plans  and  purposes 
which  stretch  forward  into  the  years  of  the  future. 
The  life  of  man  is  a  continuous  fabric,  the  warp  of 
which  is  his  plans  and  purposes  running  throughout 
its  whole  length,  and  the  woof  of  which  is  the  unend- 
ing detailed  experiences  of  every  waking  hour. 

Reason  in  personality. — Now  it  is  the  office  of 
reason  to  organize  and  unify  life  as  just  indicated; 
its  business  is  to  construct  plans  and  purposes  and 
policies,  and  to  discover  the  means  by  which  these 
may  be  realized ;  through  it  the  whole  life,  past,  pres- 
ent, and  future,  is  worked  up  into  one  complete  and 
organic  whole.  Rogers  says  i  *  the  real  essence  of  self- 
hood [being  a  person]  is  this:  the  consciousness  of 
an  active  experience  in  which  each  step  is  bound  to- 
gether with  every  other  by  its  relation  to  an  inclu- 
sive end,  which  is  immediately  realized  in  every 
part."1 

Accordingly,  to  be  a  person  means  to  have  an  ex- 
perience bound  together  through  life  by  a  system  of 
ends,  some  of  which  are  immediate  and  some  remote. 
Now  only  a  rational  being  could,  under  this  defini- 
tion, be  a  person,  because  only  a  rational  being  could 
be  dominated  by  a  system  of  ends  and  purposes.  Per- 
sonality grows  in  proportion  as  this  system  of  ends 
becomes  more  and  more  explicit  and  as  the  lower 
desires  of  sense  are  dominated  by  the  higher  ideals 
which  reason  sets  up.  Morality  comes  in  as  an  eval- 


Mfodern  Philosophy,  p.  195. 


48  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

nation  of  these  ends,  and  of  the  means  by  which  they 
shall  be  gained.  And  the  character  of  the  person  is 
determined  by  the  nature  of  the  system  of  ends  which 
is  the  ruling  force  in  his  life;  by  the  kind  of  fixed 
policy  which  governs  his  conduct.  Hence  character 
may  be  either  good  or  bad  according  to  the  relative 
value  of  the  ends  chosen.  It  may  be  either  strong  or 
weak  according  as  the  person  has  decided  firmly 
upon  some  policy,  either  good  or  bad,  or  as  the  cur- 
rent of  life  is  determined  by  each  new  stimulus  as 
it  makes  its  appearance. 

Granting,  then,  that  we  as  moral  agents  are  per- 
sons having  more  or  less  definite  and  rational  policies 
of  life,  a  moral  standard  is  any  principle  upon  which 
we  base  our  choices  and  order  our  conduct.  Life 
may  be  defined  in  terms  of  adjustment;  it  is  the 
adjustment  of  inner  factors  to  outer  and  the  modi- 
fication of  outer  factors  to  suit  inner  needs.  Con- 
sciousness is  the  highest  form  of  life,  of  adjust- 
ment and  reorganization.  In  this  case  the  inner  fac- 
tors are  the  elements  of  personality,  while  the  outer 
are  the  elements  of  the  total  environment,  physical, 
mental,  social,  and  spiritual. 

Now  reason  is  the  highest  of  the  organizing  forces 
within  consciousness ;  and  it  is  through  the  operation 
of  reason  within  the  moral  sphere  that  moral  prog- 
ress is  possible.  Moral  situations  may  arise  in  con- 
nection with  any  one  of  the  elements  of  the  total 
environment  just  mentioned,  and  the  readjustment 
may  become  constantly  superior  because  conscious- 


PEESONALITY  AND  THE   MOEAL  CEITEBION.  49 

ness  constructs  for  itself  new  ideals  which,  in  turn, 
become  more  perfect  as  consciousness  in  the  indi- 
vidual and  the  race  develops.  These  ideals  are  not, 
however,  the  exclusive  product  of  the  individual's 
own  mind.  All  the  ennobling  forces  of  society,  such 
as  education,  religion,  aesthetic,  training,  and  the  like, 
tend  to  help  form  ideals  of  conduct  and  character 
which  become  the  supreme  ends  within  the  system 
that  dominates  the  life  of  the  individual  and  makes 
him  a  "person." 

Rights  and  obligations. — Again,  in  order  that  each 
one  may  realize  his  personality  to  the  highest  degree 
we  must  assume  that  there  are  certain  great  and 
fundamental  rights  which  belong  to  him.  These 
rights  inhere  in  the  very  nature  of  personality;  with- 
out them  personality  could  not  exist.  For  example, 
it  is  one  of  the  corner  stones  of  our  constitution  that 
each  one  has  the  "inalienable  rights  of  life,  liberty, 
and  the  pursuit  of  happiness. "  To  be  explicit,  ethics 
maintains  that  personality  would  not  have  the  oppor- 
tunity to  develop  unless  there  were  physical  liberty. 
A  man  who  is  in  slavery  is  in  no  condition  to  realize 
himself. 

There  is  also  the  right  of  mental  liberty — the  right 
to  think  as  one  likes  and  to  believe  and  worship 
according  to  the  dictates  of  one's  own  conscience. 
These  factors  are  even  more  essential  to  the  develop- 
ment of  personality  than  is  physical  liberty.  There 
is  a  further  mental  right  which  we  in  our  country 
prize  very  highly,  and  that  is  the  right  to  an  educa- 


50  THE   SOCIALIZED   CO5TSCIEKCE. 

tion.  Education  is  both  the  means  and  the  process  of 
self-realization,  and  the  higher  levels  of  personality, 
and  hence  of  morality,  cannot  be  reached  without  aid 
from  society  in  the  form  of  education.  Underlying 
and  involving  both  these  classes  of  rights  is  the  right 
of  every  individual  to  enough  of  this  world's  goods 
to  enable  him  to  lay  the  foundation  of  personality. 
This  right  is  involved  in  the  right  to  live;  that  is, 
each  one  is  entitled  to  food  and  clothing  and  the  other 
means  of  life  sufficient  to  enable  him  to  work  and  be 
a  productive  member  of  society. 

But  there  is  another  side  to  the  question.  The  fact 
that  each  person  claims  these  as  his  rights  presup- 
poses  the  existence  of  a  corresponding  number  of 
obligations.  In  recognizing  our  own  personality  we 
are  implicitly  recognizing  the  personality  of  others; 
and  in  claiming  these  rights  for  ourselves  we  are  rec- 
ognizing the  claim  of  others  to  the  same  rights.  This 
law  that  rights  involve  obligations  is  one  of  the  fun- 
damental  moral  laws ;  and  it  is  equally  binding  upon 
all 

Such  considerations  as  these  reveal  the  universal- 
ity of  the  moral  standard.  The  fact  that  the  moral 
situation  is  in  essence  the  same  for  all  members  of 
society;  the  fact  that  the  moral  standard  in  both  its 
subjective  and  objective  aspects  has  authority  over 
each  one;  the  fact  that  rights  involve  obligations; — 
all  these  indicate  the  universal  nature  of  morality 
and  of  moral  standards.  These  facts  are  the  proof 
for  the  opening  sentence  of  this  book. 


PERSONALITY   AST)  THE    MORAL   CRITERION.  51 

II.    GROWTH  OF  PERSONALITY. 

We  have  been  at  some  pains  to  make  clear  what  is 
meant  by  personality.  We  now  come  to  the  question 
of  the  growth  of  personality.  The  question  may  be 
stated  thus:  According  to  what  laws  or  principles 
does  personality  develop,  and  what  elements  enter 
into  its  growth?  In  seeking  the  answer  to  this  ques- 
tion it  will  be  suggestive  to  take  the  biological  point 
of  view  and  carry  over  by  analogy  the  laws  which 
govern  plant  and  animal  growth  and  apply  them  to 
personality. 

Physical  fitness. — Accordingly,  the  first  principle 
is  that  there  must  be  the  conditions  for  proper  physi- 
cal growth  and  welfare  as  the  basis  for  the  growth 
of  the  higher  phases  of  personality.  There  must  be 
sufficient  food,  clothing,  exercise,  and  fresh  air;  the 
body  must  be  in  a  healthy  condition  in  order  to  take 
up  non-living  matter,  assimilate  it  and  work  it  over 
into  the  form  of  living  tissue.  In  a  word,  this  prin- 
ciple is  the  axiomatic  truth  that  sound  physical 
health  is  necessary  for  sound  mental  and  moral 
health. 

The  social  soil. — The  second  principle  of  personal 
growth  is  that  personality  grows  in  a  social  soil. 
"Life  is  more  than  meat  and  the  body  than  raiment, " 
and  so  is  personality  more  than  the  physical  life, 
though  a  healthy  condition  of  the  latter  is  necessary 
to  a  healthy  condition  of  the  former.  To  say  that 
personality  grows  in  a  social  soil  signifies  that  the 


52  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

elements  which  enter  into  its  growth  are  products 
of  social  endeavor.  Man,  unlike  any  other  creature, 
has  a  social  inheritance;  each  new  generation  in- 
herits all  that  the  race  has  found  to  be  of  value  in 
the  past.  The  social  environment  "includes  all  the 
relations  in  which  man  as  a  conscious  being  stands 
to  his  fellows,  to  what  his  fellows  have  done,  and  to 
his  own  personal  ideals."  In  the  upward  progress 
of  the  race  men  have  preserved  in  writing  and  other- 
wise those  things  which  their  own  experience  has 
proved  to  be  of  most  worth;  and  each  new  generation 
has  the  benefit  of  this  experience.  This  is  the  social 
inheritance.  All  the  beliefs,  traditions,  customs, 
knowledge,  and  institutions  which  exist  are  the  prod- 
ucts of  society  of  the  past  and  present. 

In  analyzing  this  inheritance  different  writers  dis- 
tinguish different  elements.  Butler3  mentions  five 
inheritances:  the  literary,  scientific,  aesthetic,  relig- 
ous,  and  institutional.  Each  generation's  inherit- 
ance from  the  past  is  of  these  five  types.  Home4 
gives  a  little  different  classification  which,  however, 
includes  these  same  things.  He  takes  as  his  starting 
point  the  fact  that  there  are  three  main  phases  of  the 
human  consciousness:  namely,  the  intellect,  the  feel- 
ings, and  the  will.  We  may  expect  therefore  that 
the  vital  experiences  of  the  race  will  be  of  these  three 


"Home:  The  Philosophy  of  Education,  p.  98. 
"The  Meaning  of  Education. 
4The  Philosophy  of  Education. 


PERSONALITY  AND   THE   MOBAL   CBITEBION.  53 

types.  Accordingly,  the  elements  of  the  social  in- 
heritance are  classified  as  intellectual,  emotional,  and 
volitional.  The  intellectual  includes  all  the  knowl- 
edge the  race  has  acquired,  especially  the  most  exact 
form  of  knowledge — science.  Scientific  knowledge 
represents  man's  classified  and  organized  experience 
with  regard  to  his  total  environment,  physical,  men- 
tal, social,  and  spiritual.  The  emotional  element  in- 
cludes all  that  the  emotions  of  man  have  wrought 
out;  this  is  preserved  in  the  form  of  the  fine  arts: 
music,  painting,  literature,  sculpture,  and  architec- 
ture. And  as  the  permanent  form  which  the  volitions 
of  man  have  taken,  there  are  constitutions,  laws,  and 
morals. 

These  elements  are  termed  social  because  they  are 
the  product  not  of  the  effort  of  separate  individuals, 
but  of  the  race  as  a  whole.  While  they  may  have 
found  expression  through  individual  instrumental- 
ity, yet  the  individuals  concerned  could  not  have 
created  as  they  did  except  as  they  themselves  had 
benefited  by  the  social  inheritance  of  their  respective 
ages.  Moreover,  without  the  cooperation  of  each 
succeeding  generation,  the  inheritance  could  not  be 
ours;  it  is  not  the  product  of  any  one  generation  or 
any  one  individual,  but  of  all  men  and  of  all  times. 

Now  just  as  the  physical  organism  grows  by  assim- 
ilating certain  elements  from  the  physical  environ- 
ment, so  consciousness  in  its  higher  forms — those 
which  make  persons  of  us — grows  by  assimilating 
the  elements  of  this  social  and  spiritual  environment. 


54  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

Each  individual  is  born  into  this  complex  social  en- 
vironment as  well  as  into  the  physical.  And  while 
the  whole  of  it  is  potentially  his  inheritance,  it  can 
become  really  his  own  only  as  he  assimilates  its  ele- 
ments and  thus  incorporates  them  into  his  very  life. 
These  elements  are  present  in  the  environment  of 
each  one  as  so  many  stimuli  which  cause  him  to  react. 
Eeaction  means  acquisition  of  new  experience,  which 
in  turn  means  so  much  growth. 

Aristotle  understood  that  personality  grows  only 
by  assimilating  the  elements  of  the  spiritual  environ- 
ment when  he  observed  that  man  is  a  social  animal, 
and  when  he  raised  the  question  whether  one  could 
become  fully  human  if  one  were  entirely  isolated 
from  one's  kind  from  birth.  We  may  sum  up  the 
discussion  of  this  principle  of  growth  by  saying  that 
personality  is  the  highest  kind  of  life  we  know  any- 
thing about,  and  that  its  roots  extend  into  the  very 
heart  of  society  and  indeed  into  the  whole  life  of  the 
race  in  ages  past.  Personality  could  no  more  grow 
if  it  were  taken  out  of  this  social  soil  than  a  plant 
could  grow  if  it  were  plucked  out  of  the  ground  and 
suspended  above  it.  The  great  arteries  which  carry 
the  sustenance  of  the  life  of  personality  are  also 
social  affairs;  to  get  out  of  touch  with  these  would 
be  to  sacrifice  life  itself.  No  man  is  entirely  self- 
made;  each  is  indebted  to  society  for  the  elements  of 
personal  growth ;  and  the  degree  of  personality  that 
he  has  attained  depends  upon  the  thoroughness  with 
which  he  has  re-lived  the  race's  experience  in  his  own 


PERSONALITY   AND   THE   MORAL   CRITERION.  55 

life:  upon  the  thoroughness  with  which  he  has  assim- 
ilated the  elements  of  the  spiritual  environment. 

III.    PERSONALITY  AND  THE  SOCIAL  INSTITUTIONS. 

The  social  institutions. — So  much  for  the  general 
nature  of  the  growth  of  personality.  But  our  analy- 
sis cannot  stop  here,  for  there  is  another  aspect  of 
social  organization  which  has  vital  significance  for 
the  growth  of  personality.  Not  only  does  society 
hold  these  elements  in  solution,  so  to  speak,  for  the 
benefit  of  all  on-coming  generations,  but  it  also  has 
definite  channels  through  which  these  benefits  are 
brought  to  the  door  of  each  individual.  There  are 
certain  great  and  abiding  social  institutions  through 
which  society  extends  to  its  individual  members 
these  elements  which  are  so  necessary  for  the  growth 
of  personality.  These  institutions  are  the  home,  the 
school,  the  vocation,  the  state,  and  the  church. 

These  institutions  are  permanent  forms  of  social 
organization ;  they  reach  back  into  the  history  of  the 
race  and  have  their  beginnings  in  primitive  times. 
These  are  the  " great  arteries"  through  which  the 
elements  of  personality  flow;  they  represent  the 
points  of  contact  between  each  individual  and  so- 
ciety, both  of  the  present  and  of  ages  past.  To  be 
more  specific,  it  is  only  as  man  comes  into  contact 
with  the  home,  the  school,  the  vocation,  the  state, 
and  the  church  that  the  necessary  elements  of  his 
growth  are  supplied. 


56  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

The  home. — Let  us  carry  out  this  analysis  in  a  lit- 
tle more  detail.  We  must  not  anticipate  too  much 
what  is  to  follow  in  the  next  chapters,  but  it  is  essen- 
tial that  we  shall  see  clearly  at  this  point  the  relation 
of  these  great  social  institutions  to  the  making  of 
character.  First,  as  to  the  home.  The  home  is  first 
in  point  of  time  and  importance  in  its  influence  upon 
personality.  It  receives  the  child  at  his  period  of 
greatest  plasticity  and  continues  to  influence  him  for 
many  years.  All  of  his  experiences  for  the  first  few 
years  are  gained  within  its  walls.  All  the  knowledge, 
all  the  appreciation  of  the  beautiful,  and  all  the  re- 
ligious conceptions  and  moral  training  that  come  to 
him,  come  through  the  channel  of  the  home.  Not 
only  are  the  elements  of  his  knowledge  gained  in  the 
give-and-take,  the  contact  and  conversation,  and  the 
atmosphere  of  the  home,  but  the  habits  of  life  which 
have  such  a  dominant  place  in  the  making  of  charac- 
ter are  also  formed  for  the  most  part  at  this  time  and 
in  this  place.  The  child  probably  learns  as  much  in 
the  first  five  years  of  his  life  as  he  does  in  all  the 
other  years  put  together.  And  in  the  nature  of  the 
case  the  bulk  of  this  time  is  spent  in  the  home.  This 
indicates  the  great  significance  for  the  child 's  future 
character  of  the  impressions,  habits,  ideas,  and  ideals 
that  are  the  product  of  his  home  environment. 

The  school. — In  the  second  place,  it  is  the  business 
of  the  school  to  take  the  child  as  he  comes  from  the 
home  and  carry  on  his  education  and  the  making  of 
his  character  beyond  the  point  to  which  it  has  been 


PEBSONALITY  AND  THE   MORAL   CBITEBION.  57 

carried  in  the  home.  The  home  is  the  center  of  a 
great  many  activities,  and  it  has  neither  the  time  nor 
the  means  to  make  the  child's  education  systematic 
and  complete.  This  is  the  specific  duty  of  the  school. 
The  school  curriculum  is  the  boiled-down  essence  of 
the  social  inheritance — or  ought  to  be ;  it  represents 
in  a  systematic  way  the  experiences  of  the  race  and 
presents  them  to  the  child  in  such  manner  that  he 
may  get  the  benefit  of  them  in  the  best  way  and  in  the 
shortest  time.  The  child  is  not  left  to  find  things  out 
for  himself;  he  is  given  the  results  of  the  trials  and 
successes  of  the  race  in  the  past ;  they  are  presented 
to  him  in  the  most  economical  way  possible.  Person- 
ality then  is  developed  further  in  and  by  the  school 
than  could  be  possible  without  the  aid  of  such  a 
social  institution. 

The  vocation. — In  the  third  place,  although  it  may 
not  be  so  evident  on  the  face  of  things,  the  growth 
of  personality  is  largely  dependent  upon  the  voca- 
tion. "We  must  use  the  term  "vocation,"  not  in  the 
narrow  sense  of  being  the  fixed  occupation  of  some 
one  individual  or  set  of  individuals,  but  in  the  wider 
sense  of  the  whole  organized  labor  of  man.  It  is 
equivalent  to  the  economic  order ;  the  economic  pro- 
cess includes  all  of  the  activities  by  which  all  of  the 
needs  and  wants  of  man  are  supplied.  This  involves 
a  vast  amount  of  specialization  of  labor  in  modern 
times.  The  significant  fact  is  that  without  this  highly 
organized  method  of  producing  and  distributing  the 
goods  of  life,  without  this  high  degree  of  cooperation 


58  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

on  the  part  of  the  members  of  society,  the  needs  of 
no  one  of  us  could  be  so  well  supplied.  If  each  one  of 
us  had  to  make  his  own  clothing,  secure  the  material 
for  and  build  his  own  home,  procure  and  prepare  all 
his  own  food,  no  one  of  us  could  have  as  much  and  as 
good  clothing,  as  comfortable  a  home,  as  varied  a 
diet,  or  indeed  a  tithe  as  many  of  the  comforts  as  we 
now  enjoy. 

Not  only  is  this  true,  but  a  further  and  even  more 
significant  fact  is  that  no  one  would  have  nearly  as 
much  leisure — time  over  and  above  that  necessary  to 
obtain  the  bare  necessities  of  life — in  which  to  culti- 
vate the  higher  faculties,  in  which  to  advance  his 
education,  in  which  to  develop  the  higher  phases  of 
personality.  Further  reference  will  be  made  to  these 
facts  later  on,  but  it  is  necessary  for  us  to  see  clearly 
at  this  point  the  debt  that  each  individual  owes  to 
an  organized  vocation  which  through  cooperation 
brings  the  goods  of  life  in  such  abundance  and  with 
a  minimum  of  effort  on  his  part  to  each  of  the  more 
fortunate  members  of  society.  It  is  true  that  there 
is  a  shameful  inequality  in  the  distribution  of  the 
goods  of  life:  that  some  have  more  than  enough  while 
others  are  suffering  for  the  barest  necessities  of  life. 
This  is  one  of  the  many  problems  with  which  ethics 
has  to  deal;  but  to  all  members  of  society  in  greater 
or  lesser  degree  the  foundations  of  personality  are 
laid  in  the  economic  order. 

The  state. — In  the  fourth  place,  what  is  the  rela- 
tion of  the  state  to  the  development  of  personality! 


PERSONALITY  AND   THE   MORAL   CRITERION.  59 

This  relationship  may  be  looked  at  from  two  points 
of  view.  On  the  one  hand  it  is  negative  in  character; 
the  state  sets  limits  within  which  one's  actions  must 
fall.  It  imposes  penalties  for  the  violation  of  its 
laws,  which  laws  coincide  with  the  moral  law  up  to 
a  certain  point.  The  state  says  '  *  thou  shalt  not  kill, ' ' 
the  moral  law  says  "thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as 
thyself;"  the  state  says  "thou  shalt  not  steal,"  while 
the  moral  law  says  "if  any  man  take  away  thy  coat, 
give  him  thy  cloak  also."  The  state  sets  an  outside 
limit  beyond  which  a  man  may  not  go  in  his  action ;  a 
man  may  obey  the  laws  of  the  state  and  yet  not  be 
moral,  while  to  be  moral  implies  obedience  to  a  higher 
and  stricter  law  than  that  of  the  state.  On  the  other 
hand  the  state  undertakes  to  maintain  the  peace  and 
to  deal  with  refractory  members  of  society,  so  that 
the  orderly  members  may  pursue  their  peaceful  occu- 
pations and  thus  realize  their  ends,  so  long  as  these 
ends  are  legitimate. 

The  ideal  function  of  the  state  is  to  guarantee  the 
validity  of  all  of  the  other  institutions  of  society.  It 
should  protect  the  home  and  endeavor  to  curb  any- 
thing that  would  seek  to  undermine  it  and  destroy 
the  sacredness  of  it.  It  should  foster  and  care  for  the 
school  and  provide  the  means  by  which  to  carry  it 
on.  It  should  safeguard  the  vocation  and  attempt  to 
see  that  every  man  gets  justice  in  the  economic  rela- 
tions of  life.  And  finally  it  should  guarantee  to 
every  man  the  right  to  worship  according  to  the  dic- 
tates of  his  own  conscience.  In  a  word,  the  true 


60  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

function  of  the  state  is  to  safeguard  the  life,  the  lib- 
erty, and  all  the  other  rights  of  the  members  of  so- 
ciety in  order  that  they  may  be  free  to  make  the  best 
use  of  their  opportunities  for  self-development. 

The  church. — Finally,  the  church  is  that  institu- 
tion whose  function  it  is  to  develop  that  highest 
phase  of  human  character,  the  religious  experience. 
Its  duty  is  to  appeal  to  and  stimulate  those  ideals 
of  character  and  conduct  which  are  set  forth  in  the 
Bible,  and  to  bring  out  the  best  there  is  in  man. 
Human  personality  and  character  finds  its  ultimate 
worth  and  highest  expression  in  the  religious  life. 
This  consists,  in  essence,  in  a  conscious  dependence 
upon  and  love  for  God,  and  faithful  and  loving  serv- 
ice for  mankind.  And  it  is  the  duty  of  the  church  to 
seek  man's  development  along  this  line.  The  work 
of  the  church,  then,  is  the  putting  of  the  cap-sheaf 
upon  personality;  and  without  its  cooperation  hu- 
man personality  remains  merely  human. 

IV.    THE  MOEAL  SITUATION  AND  SOCIAL  INSTITUTIONS. 

Personal  obligations.-  The  growth  of  personality 
is  thus  absolutely  dependent  upon  the  elements  of 
the  social  environment;  and  personality  can  receive 
these  elements  only  as  they  are  brought  to  it  through 
the  channels  of  the  home,  the  school,  the  vocation, 
the  state,  and  the  church.  What,  now,  is  the  moral 
significance  of  these  facts'?  It  has  already  been  laid 
down  as  a  moral  law  that  all  rights  involve  corre- 
sponding obligations,  that  opportunities  mean  re- 


PEBSONALITY   AND   THE   MOBAL   OBITEBION.  61 

sponsibilities.  It  therefore  follows  that  each  one 
who  has  so  richly  benefited  at  the  hands  of  society 
should  render  back  to  society  something  in  return. 
There  is  no  escape  from  this  obligation;  in  the  na- 
ture of  the  case  the  obligation  rests  upon  him  whom 
society  has  nurtured  through  her  social  institutions. 
And  how  shall  one  discharge  this  obligation?  Obvi- 
ously, there  could  be  no  more  fitting  way  than  to 
render  service  commensurate  with  one's  capacities 
and  opportunities  back  to  society;  this  service  should 
be  returned  to  society  through  the  same  channels  as 
those  through  which  society  poured  out  her  benefits 
upon  the  individual;  namely,  the  home,  the  school, 
the  vocation,  the  state,  and  the  church.  To  put  it 
more  specifically,  each  individual  owes  a  tremendous 
obligation  to  society  through  these  five  social  insti- 
tutions. 

Obligation  to  social  institutions. — There  is  also 
another  phase  of  the  moral  significance  of  this.  As 
we  have  seen  in  a  previous  chapter,  the  moral  situa- 
tion is  always  a  social  matter;  or,  to  put  it  in  another 
way,  the  moral  situation  arises  only  in  connection 
with  these  social  institutions.  Those  situations  of 
vital  importance  arise  in  the  home,  in  the  school,  or 
in  one  of  the  other  institutions,  and  there  are  no 
other  relations  in  life  which  can  furnish  moral  prob- 
lems. This  is  because  these  institutions  when  de- 
fined in  a  broad  sense  include  all  the  important  rela- 
tions of  men  to  each  other.  There  may  seem  to  be 
exceptions  to  this,  at  first  sight,  as  for  example,  the 


62  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

question  of  amusement,  which  seems  to  be  omitted 
in  this  classification  of  the  relations  of  life.  But  if 
we  will  define  the  second  one  of  the  social  institu- 
tions as  the  ''school  and  other  educational  and  cul- 
tural agencies,"  we  shall  have  a  term  sufficiently 
broad  to  cover  all  cases  of  this  kind.  When  it  comes 
to  the  practical,  everyday  questions  of  right  and 
wrong,  they  will  always  be  found  to  have  relation  to 
society  on  the  side  of  one  or  more  of  these  institu- 
tions. 

V.     THE  MOEAL  CBITEEION. 

Realization  of  the  social  self. — Now  what  term  or 
phrase  will  best  summarize  these  principles  and 
most  fully  carry  their  meaning?  " Socialized  per- 
sonality," or  "realization  of  the  social  self"  are  both 
suggestive  of  the  desired  meaning.  They  both  carry 
as  their  connotation  the  fact  that  the  supreme  moral 
obligation  is  the  realization  of  the  self,  and  that  the 
self  is  a  social  affair.  Indeed  this  last  point  needs 
to  be  emphasized  and  re-emphasized,  for  it  is  most 
likely  to  be  forgotten.  It  is  only  half  a  truth  to  say 
that  morality  is  a  personal  affair;  the  other  half,  is 
that  personality  is  a  social  affair.  The  influence  of 
nearly  all  of  the  ethical  theories  of  the  past  tends  to 
emphasize  the  seZ/-realization ;  this  is  because  these 
theories  have  been  based  chiefly  upon  the  assumed 
principle  of  individualism.  But  we  must  keep  con- 
stantly before  us  the  social  nature  of  morality,  and 


PERSONALITY  AND   THE   MORAL   CRITERION.  63 

bear  in  mind  that  moral  theory,  to  be  adequate  to 
present  needs,  must  be  socialized. 

Let  us  make  as  clear  as  possible  just  what  is  im- 
plied in  " socialized  personality,"  or  the  "realiza- 
tion of  the  social  self."  Of  course,  there  is  in  each 
of  us  some  personality  to  begin  with;  the  very  fact 
that  man  is  man  means  that  there  is  some  personal- 
ity. It  signifies  that  there  is  at  least  a  degree  of  rea- 
son which  is  operative  in  the  selection  of  ends.  But 
the  realization  of  socialized  personality  demands 
that  the  ends  which  are  striven  for  shall  be  made  to 
harmonize  with  the  moral  law;  that  is,  they  must  be 
ends  which  are  conductive  to  social  welfare;  in  the 
same  way  the  means  used  to  secure  these  ends  must 
also  be  socially  desirable.  This  further  signifies  that 
the  individual  must  come  to  take  the  social  point  of 
view  as  a  matter  of  habit;  he  must  habitually  ask 
himself  in  the  face  of  every  moral  situation  what  the 
social  implications  of  his  act  are.  The  desirability 
of  the  act  must  be  estimated  in  terms  of  its  total 
effect  upon  society. 

The  socialized  conscience. — Or,  look  at  it  from  an- 
other point  of  view.  Eealization  of  the  social  self 
means  the  having  of  a  socialized  conscience.  We  have 
seen  that  conscience  represents  the  very  heart  of 
morality ;  and  we  have  defined  it  as  the  whole  of  con- 
sciousness functioning  in  the  moral  realm  or  in  a 
moral  situation.  To  have  a  socialized  conscience 
means  to  judge  as  to  the  Tightness  of  an  act  in  terms 
of  its  social  effects,  bearing  in  mind  the  fact  that  the 


64  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

individual  is  himself  a  member  of  society.  Psycho- 
logically, the  function  of  judgment  is  to  enable  the  or- 
ganism to  meet  and  economically  adjust  itself  to  a 
new  situation.  If  the  situation  is  a  familiar  one  and 
has  been  met  successfully  many  times,  judgment  is 
no  longer  necessary  and  adjustment  is  much  more 
rapid  and  exact  when  the  act  is  performed  through 
habit.  ;  .  ••; 

Now  within  the  moral  life  there  is  a  place  for  both 
judgment  and  habit.  When  a  moral  situation  arises 
for  the  first  time,  then  to  have  a  socialized  conscience 
requires  that  one  pass  judgment  upon  the  situation 
in  terms  of  the  social  effect  of  the  act.  If  the  moral 
situation  is  a  familiar  one  and  has  been  previously 
met  by  a  judgment,  the  latter  is  no  longer  necessary; 
ideo-motor  action  or,  if  many  times  repeated,  habit, 
will  then  take  care  of  the  situation.  But  in  the  lat- 
ter case  as  well  as  in  the  former  the  action  must  re- 
flect rationalized  character  in  which  the  standard  of 
judgment  is  a  social  one.  Not  only  must  delibera- 
tive, ideo-motor,  and  impulsive  acts  be  social  in 
character,  but  the  whole  attitude  toward  life  must 
be  so ;  life  as  a  whole  must  be  habitually  looked  at  as 
a  social  thing.  When  this  habitual  attitude  is  taken, 
conscience — one's  inner  evaluation  of  the  situa- 
tion— will  always  operate  in  harmony  with  the 
moral  principle,  socialized  personality. 

Perry,  in  his  Moral  Economy,  in  discussing  the  na- 
ture of  the  moral  life  distinguishes  five  supreme  vir- 
tues. They  are  intelligence,  prudence,  purpose,  justice, 


PEBSONALITY   AND  THE   MOBAL   CRITEBION.  65 

and  good-will.  He  does  not  mention  them  in  connec- 
tion with  what  we  have  called  a  socialized  conscience, 
but  they  fit  it  admirably  with  our  analysis  of  it. 
The  man  whose  conscience  is  socialized  must  above 
all  things  be  intelligent  about  social  conditions  and 
relations.  Socrates  maintained  that  virtue  is  knowl- 
edge; this  is  stating  it  too  strongly  perhaps,  but  it 
is  certainly  true  that  without  knowledge  one  cannot 
be  moral,  while  ignorance  may  be  the  cause  of  vice. 
For  example,  it  is  absolutely  necessary  to  any  great 
reform  in  society  for  all  members,  or  at  least  the  in- 
telligent majority,  to  have  knowledge  about  the 
facts  in  the  case.  In  order  that  society  shall  do 
away  with  that  great  social  disease,  the  liquor  traffic, 
it  is  necessary  that  society  shall  be  well  informed 
about  the  facts.  Or  again,  when  people  know  the 
facts  about  child  labor  and  its  evil  effects,  this  social 
sin  will  be  far  on  the  way  towards  eradication.  And 
so  it  is  throughout  the  whole  list  of  moral  situations ; 
in  order  for  a  man's  conscience  to  be  socialized  it  is 
necessary  for  him  to  be  intelligent.  This  is  not 
merely  one  of  the  greatest  of  the  moral  virtues,  but 
it  is  also  the  moral  duty  of  every  member  of  society 
to  make  himself  intelligent  upon  the  problems  that 
concern  the  welfare  of  society,  else  by  his  ignorance 
is  he  condemned. 

We  shall  not  dwell  in  detail  upon  all  these  virtues. 
But  prudence  in  the  form  of  thoughtful  considera- 
tion in  the  light  of  all  the  known  facts  regarding  a 
moral  situation  is  equally  essential  to  a  socialized 


66  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

conscience.  Indeed,  conscience  could  not  exist  apart 
from  prudence;  likewise,  purpose.  We  have  seen 
that  the  very  essence  of  personality  consists  in  hav- 
ing a  system  of  ends  and  purposes  in  life  which  are 
in  harmony  with  the  moral  law;  so  it  is  fitting  to  in- 
clude purpose  in  a  list  of  the  moral  virtues.  In  the 
same  way  both  justice  and  good-will  are  organic  to 
a  socialized  conscience.  All  that  has  gone  before  by 
way  of  our  analysis  of  personality  presupposes  that 
justice  is  one  of  the  corner-stones  of  the  moral  life. 
But  mere  justice  is  not  sufficient ;  it  must  be  supple- 
mented by  good- will.  An  individual  may  live  within 
the  law,  always  dealing  out  cold  justice;  yet  a  life 
built  upon  this  foundation  alone  cannot  rise  to  the 
higher  and  nobler  levels  of  morality.  Mere  justice 
may  be  the  deadliest  of  paralyzing  forces ;  it  may  be 
easier  for  one  to  stand  the  cruelty  of  a  positively 
unjust  act  than  to  weather  the  icy  blast  of  mere  jus- 
tice. It  must  be  tempered  by  good- will.  Even  a  mis- 
guided act  which  is  prompted  by  a  generous  dispo- 
sition, although  its  outcome  is  not  altogether  desir- 
able, is  at  least  appreciated  as  to  its  motive.  But 
mere  good-will,  again,  unless  it  be  founded  upon  in- 
telligence, prudence,  purpose,  and  justice,  is  not  en- 
tirely moral;  without  these  other  factors  as  a  basis, 
the  will  is  not  thoroughly  socialized.  Indeed  without 
each  and  every  one  of  these  virtues  no  man's  action 
can  be  fully  social  nor  can  he  have  a  socialized  con- 
science. 


PERSONALITY  AND   THE   MOEAL   CRITERION.  67 

The  criterion. — In  summary  we  may  say  that  the 
supreme  moral  end  is  the  realization  of  the  social 
self,  or  socialized  personality,  and  the  moral  criter- 
ion by  which  conduct  is  to  be  evaluated  and  directed 
is  the  socialized  conscience,  with  its  specific  virtues 
of  intelligence,  prudence,  purpose,  justice,  and  good- 
will. Conduct  is  good  only  as  it  both  brings  to  fuller 
realization  the  total  self  and  proves  itself  socially 
constructive.  To  be  socially  constructive  it  must 
promote  directly  or  indirectly  the  efforts  of  the  other 
members  of  society  to  realize  the  same  end  for  them- 
selves. 

The  one  common  factor  that  is  needed  in  the  solu- 
tion of  the  social,  political,  educational,  and  religi- 
ous problems  of  the  present  day  is  a  re-enlighten- 
ed and  resensitized  conscience.  Our  previous  an- 
alysis has  shown  that  the  moral  situation  must  arise 
in  connection  with  one  or  more  of  the  great  social 
institutions;  and  it  is  in  these  connections  that  our 
consciences  need  to  be  re-enlightened.  For  example, 
in  connection  with  the  home,  society  needs  to  become 
aroused  about  the  growing  problem  of  divorce  and 
its  causes ;  along  the  line  of  the  vocation,  we  need  to 
be  more  deeply  concerned  about  the  loss  of  life  and 
limb  which  is  so  common  in  our  factories  and  mines, 
and  we  need  to  have  a  greater  care  for  those  in  dis- 
tress and  poverty,  from  whatever  cause;  in  connec- 
tion with  the  state,  we  need  to  be  watchful  lest  we 
be  parties  to  graft  and  misrepresentation.  These  are 


68  THE   SOCIALIZED    CONSCIENCE. 

the  kinds  of  moral  situations  which  touch  our  lives 
at  every  turn.  These  questions  are  social,  political, 
economic,  and  religious;  but  they  are  also  vitally 
moral.  If  we  choose  the  easier  way,  as  moralists,  of 
merely  speculating  theoretically  about  what  the 
highest  good  is,  we  rob  morality  of  its  content,  for 
it  is  just  such  life  problems  as  these  mentioned  that 
make  up  the  fabric  of  morality.  Morality  is  one  of 
the  most  concrete  facts  of  life;  and  ethics  ought  to 
supply  us  with  a  working  theory  with  respect  to 
these  problems.  It  should  provide  us  with  a  point 
of  view  so  that  we  may  be  able  to  face  the  facts  of 
life  with  some  degree  of  consistency. 

"We  are  now  ready  to  take  up  some  of  these  prob- 
lems as  they  come  to  us  in  the  business  of  life  in  rela- 
tion to  the  five  great  institutional  structures  of 
society,  and  to  try  to  make  the  application  of  the 
moral  principle  whenever  we  can.  And  while  it  will 
be  impossible  to  give  a  final  answer  to  many  of 
these,  the  stating  of  the  problem  itself  will  be  a  help 
in  our  independent  efforts  to  think  clearly  upon 
these  important  aspects  of  life. 

QUESTIONS  AND  TOPICS  FOR  FURTHER  STUDY. 

1.  Do  animals  possess  the  elements  of  personality? 
(See  Morgan's  Comparative  Psychology,  Ch.  XII,  XVI.) 

2.  What  is  the  relative  value  of  habit  and  judgment 
in  the  making  of  character? 

3.  What  is  the  meaning  of  'self  realization'? 

4.  What  is  the  relation  of  self  sacrifice  to  self  realiza- 
tion? 


PERSONALITY  AND   THE   MOBAL   CBITEBIO3ST.  69 

5.  Is  happiness  an  essential  part  of  the  moral  crite- 
rion? 

6.  What  would  be  the  content  of  duty  in  terms  of  our 
moral  criterion? 

7.  What  distinctions  are  to  be  drawn  between  sym- 
pathy, altruism,  and  humanitarianism  ? 

8.  What  limitations  are  put  upon  the  individual  rights 
of  liberty,  freedom  of  thought,  and  education  ? 

9.  Give  other  examples  of  moral  situations  which  arise 
in  connection  with  each  of  the  social  institutions. 

10.  At  about  what  age  does  a  child  attain  the  ability 
to  reason?    Is  there  any  connection  between  this  and  the 
development  of  conscience? 

11.  Give  a  detailed  illustration  of  a  system  of  ends. 

12.  From  the  Hedonist's  point  of  view,  what  would  be 
the  nature  and  office  of  conscience? 

REFERENCES. 
ON  THE  NATURE  AND  GROWTH  OP  PERSONALITY. 

Betts:  Social  Principles  of  Education,  pp.  13-22. 
Home :  Philosophy  of  Education,  Ch.  IV. 
MacCuim:  The  Making  of  Character,  Pt.  II,  Ch.  I; 
Pt.  Ill,  Ch.  II. 

Perry :  The  Moral  Economy,  pp.  13-20. 
Seth:  Ethical  Principles,  Pt.  I,  Ch.  Ill,  paragraphs 
5-9. 

ON  RIGHTS  AND  OBLIGATIONS. 

Dewey  and  Tufts :  Ethics,  Ch.  XX,  §11. 
Wright :  Self  Realization,  Pt.  I,  Ch.  V. 

ON  VIRTUES. 

Perry :  The  Moral  Economy,  pp.  72-82. 
Wright :  Self  Realization,  Pt.  Ill,  Ch.  VI. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  CRITERION  APPLIED:   THE  HOME. 

I.    DIVORCE  AND  MORALITY. 

The  question  stated. — Anything  that  threatens  the 
sanctity  and  stability  of  the  home  also  threatens  the 
institution  of  morality  in  that  it  has  a  deleterious 
effect  upon  personality.  There  are  many  things  in 
our  complex  society  of  today  which  seem  thus  to  be 
threatening  the  home.  The  prevalence  of  divorce  is 
evidence  of  this  statement.  The  fact  that  at  a  con- 
servative estimate  there  are  from  one-fifth  to  one- 
fourth  as  many  divorce  proceedings  as  there  are 
marriages  in  our  country  in  a  given  period  of  time 
is  sad  testimony  to  the  fact  that  there  is  at  work 
some  force  whose  tendency  is  to  overthrow  and  dis- 
rupt the  home.  That  this  estimate  is  conservative 
appears  from  the  fact  that  the  divorce  rate  for  the 
state  in  which  the  center  of  population  lies  was  in 
1900,  1  to  7.5;  while  for  one  county  the  rate  was  1 
to  3.8;  and  these  figures  represent  approximately 
two-thirds  of  the  divorce  proceedings,  the  decree  not 
having  been  granted  in  the  other  cases.1 

Divorce  itself,  however,  is  not  to  be  regarded  so 
much  as  an  evil  in  itself,  as  the  symptom  of  some 


:  History  of  Matrimonial  Institutions,  III,  p.  212. 
71 


72  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

deeper  lying  evil.  It  is  society's  means  of  dealing 
with  an  intolerable  pathological  condition.  The 
question  is,  just  what  is  this  pathological  condition 
and  what  are  the  causes  of  the  so-called  divorce  evil; 
or  to  put  it  another  way,  what  are  those  tendencies 
which  are  working  for  the  overthrow  of  the  home? 
Further,  what  is  the  proper  remedy  for  these  condi- 
tions ? 

Changed  conditions. — These  are  difficult  questions 
to  answer;  we  shall  probably  find,  if  we  succeed  in 
analyzing  out  the  causal  factors,  that  the  trouble 
is  not  traceable  to  any  one  condition,  but  that  there 
are  many  contributory  causes.  The  conditions  both 
within  and  without  the  home  are  very  different  from 
what  they  were  before  the  divorce  evil  grew  to  its 
present  magnitude.  The  maladjustment  within  the 
family  which  is  so  evident  now  no  doubt  grows  out 
of  a  number  of  these  changed  conditions.  For  exam- 
ple, the  time  has  largely  passed  in  our  own  country 
when  the  daughter  is  subject  to  the  will  of  the  father 
in  the  matter  of  marriage;  likewise  the  time  has 
passed  when  the  wife  is  subject  to  the  will  of  the 
husband.  Hence  conditions  which  formerly  may 
have  been  borne  in  silence  on  the  part  of  the  wife 
may  now  frequently  be  aired  in  the  divorce  court. 
Furthermore,  we  as  a  people  have  largely  lost  the 
Puritanic  point  of  view  which  made  of  suffering  a 
virtue  and  a  duty;  we  are  no  longer  content  to  en- 
dure in  silence  conditions  for  which  there  seems  to 
be  such  an  easy  remedy  in  divorce.  Again,  the 


THE   CRITERION   APPLIED:    THE   HOME.  73 

church,  partly  through  its  decreasing  authority  over 
the  lives  of  men  and  partly  because  of  lack  of  initia- 
tive, has  ceased  to  be  as  strong  a  force  against  di- 
vorce as  formerly.  Corresponding  to  this  laxity  on 
the  part  of  the  church,  public  opinion  and  custom 
have  ceased  to  frown  so  uncompromisingly  upon 
divorce;  the  divorcee  is  no  longer  looked  upon  as  one 
apart,  as  a  social  outcast,  but  commonly  enjoys 
equality  of  privilege  and  opportunity  with  other 
members  of  society. 

Another  set  of  changed  conditions  which  gives 
woman  a  greater  independence  is  the  industrial 
changes  of  the  last  half  century.  Formerly  woman 
was  almost  entirely  dependent  economically  upon 
some  male  member  of  the  family,  and  marriage  was 
practically  the  only  door  open  to  her.  This  fact 
again  accounts  for  her  uncomplaining  silence  under 
conditions  which  were  all  but  unbearable  and  from 
which  she  may  now  find  relief  in  divorce.  But  we 
must  not  conclude  upon  the  basis  of  these  facts  that 
the  increased  number  of  divorces  of  the  present  is  to 
be  explained  entirely  upon  the  ground  that  people 
now  find  a  ready  relief  in  divorce,  whereas  in  the 
past  they  bore  in  silence  conditions  which  were  all 
but  intolerable.  On  the  contrary,  modern  life  has 
brought  with  it  many  new  conditions  whose  influ- 
ence is  inimical  to  the  home  and  which  are  account- 
able for  much  of  the  great  increase  in  the  divorce 
evil.  Neither  must  we  conclude  that  society  is  more 
degenerate  now  than  formerly;  on  the  contrary, 


74  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

divorce  may  be  regarded  as  a  sign  of  social  virility; 
the  social  body  is  exercising  its  reserve  force  in  the 
attempt  to  throw  off  this  disease. 

n.     MARRIAGE  ENTERED  INTO  Too  LIGHTLY. 

The  causes  of  divorce. — There  seem  to  be  three 
general  conditions  which  may  be  regarded  as  the 
causes  of  divorce.  These  are:  (1)  the  fact  that  mar- 
riage is  entered  into  too  lightly,  (2)  sex  immorality, 
and  (3)  certain  sources  of  friction  within  the  home 
which,  while  not  entirely  disrupting  it,  are  neverthe- 
less inimical  to  the  best  growth  of  personality.  In 
considering  these  it  will  be  necessary  to  speak  some- 
what plainly  upon  topics  which  are  usually  tabooed 
as  subjects  of  social  discourse  and  which  are  not  or- 
dinarily discussed  in  books  on  ethics.  But  after  all 
these  and  their  kind  are  the  vital  things  of  life  and 
they  furnish  the  common  everyday  questions  of  mor- 
ality; they  are  therefore  the  things  which  most  need 
discussion  in  books  on  ethics. 

The  fundamental  nature  of  the  home. — The  home 
as  a  social  institution  and  as  the  unit  of  society  has 
its  origin  and  foundation  in  marriage.  Marriage  as 
an  institution  has  undergone  many  changes  in  the 
long  ages  of  human  evolution  and  civilization  which 
elapsed  before  our  present  high  ideals  were  attained. 
It  would  be  beside  the  purpose  here  to  trace  out  the 
evolution  of  the  marriage  relation;  but  a  somewhat 
philosophical  view  of  the  nature  and  function  of  the 
home  will  help  us  to  see  the  problems  that  present 


THE   CRITERION   APPLIED:   THE   HOME.  75 

conditions  have  developed,  and  at  the  same  time  will 
indicate  the  solution  of  these  problems. 

The  biological  function. — The  purpose  of  the 
home,  whose  foundation  marriage  is,  is  a  very  broad 
and  comprehensive  one.  Indeed  it  cannot  be  said  to 
have  one  and  only  one  purpose;  on  the  contrary  its 
function  is  manifold.  Of  these  the  biological  is 
fundamental.  It  can  never  be  denied  that  the  origi- 
nal and  supreme  purpose  of  marriage  is  the  rearing 
of  and  caring  for  children.  The  parental  instinct 
is  the  force  which  originally  brought  members  of  the 
opposite  sex  together.  Nor  have  sex  feelings  and 
the  parental  instinct  decreased  as  the  race  has  devel- 
oped. So  they  must  still  be  regarded  as  funda- 
mental. 

But  while  the  biological  function  of  marriage  is 
the  original  and  perhaps  the  fundamental  purpose, 
there  are  other  and  scarcely  less  important  purposes 
which  the  home  ought  to  subserve.  Among  these  are 
what  we  may  term  the  psychological,  the  economic, 
the  ethical,  the  social,  and  the  religious  purposes. 
Nature  has  provided  all  sentent  creatures  with 
the  parental  instinct,  and  they  perpetuate  their  kind 
according  to  the  same  laws  which  govern  the  perpet- 
uation of  the  human  race.  But  man's  life  is  more 
than  that  of  the  beasts  of  the  field.  It  consists  not 
alone  in  eating  and  drinking  and  in  following  the 
instinctive  round  of  the  seasons;  but  his  life  is  a 
mental,  a  moral,  and  a  spiritual  life  as  well.  And 
the  home  as  a  social  institution  is  one  of  the  greatest 


76  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

factors  in  the  realization  of  the  various  ends  of  this 
total  life. 

The  psychological  function. — Let  us  consider  very 
briefly  these  other  functions  which  the  home  has, 
beginning  with  the  psychological.  Reference  has 
already  been  made  to  the  incomparable  influence 
that  the  home  exercises  in  the  making  of  personality. 
Now  personality  has  been  defined  almost  exclusively 
in  terms  of  the  mind,  particularly  those  higher  men- 
tal processes  of  reason  and  ideals.  Here  in  general 
then  is  the  psychological  value  of  the  home  and  of 
marriage  which  is  its  foundation.  To  be  more  spe- 
cific, we  may  say  that  marriage  is  the  union  of  two 
persons — and  let  us  remember  the  significance  of  the 
term  "persons" — "into  a  deliberate,  intimate,  per- 
manent, responsible  union  for  a  common  end  of  mu- 
tual good.  And  it  is  this  common  end,  a  good  of  a 
higher,  broader,  fuller  sort  than  either  could  attain 
in  isolation,  which  lifts  passion  from  the  impulsive 
or  selfish  to  the  moral  plane;  it  is  the  peculiar  inti- 
macy and  the  peculiar  demands  for  sympathy  and 
cooperation,  which  give  it  greater  depth  and  reach 
than  ordinary  friendship."2  It  is  in  the  peculiar 
sympathetic  love  and  service  of  the  home,  in  the 
common  labor  towards  common  ends  and  purposes, 
in  the  unselfish  devotion  and  sacrifice  of  husband 
and  wife,  of  parent  and  child,  that  the  highest  levels 
of  mental  development  are  to  be  realized.  It  is 
through  these  common  experiences  that  personality 
is  most  normally  rounded  out  and  crystalized. 


'Dewey  and  Tufts:  Ethics,  p.  571. 


THE   CRITERION    APPLIED:   THE    HOME.  77 

The  economic  function. — Likewise  the  home  has 
its  economic  value.  This  phase  of  the  total  function 
of  the  home,  however,  is  not  now  so  great  and  vital 
as  it  once  was.  In  general,  the  economic  process  is 
a  two-fold  one,  namely,  production  and  consump- 
tion. Formerly  the  home  was  the  center  of  the  pro- 
ductive processes  whereby  the  necessities  of  life 
were  gathered  together  and  prepared  for  use.  Now, 
however,  by  far  the  larger  number  of  these  processes 
are  carried  on  in  the  factories  and  shops  of  the 
cities.  But  the  home  is  still  the  consumptive  center 
of  society;  there  is  a  multitude  of  things  looking 
toward  the  well-being  and  comfort  of  its  members 
which  can  still  be  compassed  only  in  the  home.  Con- 
sider the  fact  that  nearly  all  the  necessities  of  life 
are  brought  within  the  home,  there  to  be  con- 
sumed,— food,  clothing,  fuel, — even  though  these 
things  are  not  now  prepared  on  the  premises  as  they 
were  a  few  generations  ago ;  also  that  the  great  bulk 
of  the  earnings  of  the  members  of  the  family  is  spent 
through  the  channel  of  the  home,  and  it  will  at  once 
be  clear  that  the  home  is  still  the  economic  center  of 
society  as  far  as  consumption  is  concerned. 

Consider  also  the  advantages  that  accrue  from 
this  fact.  It  has  already  been  shown  that  division  of 
labor  in  the  economic  order  is  one  of  the  basic  prin- 
ciples of  civilization.  Now  there  is  a  considerable 
division  of  labor  within  the  home  itself.  Usually 
the  husband  and  father  engages  in  some  gainful  oc- 
cupation and  thus  supplies  the  necessary  funds  for 


78  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

maintaining  the  home.  But  the  activities  of  the  wife 
and  mother  must  also  be  regarded  as  a  gainful  occu- 
pation. It  is  through  her  efforts  that  the  raw  mate- 
rials are  worked  over  into  the  form  of  food  and  cloth- 
ing, and  by  her  many  of  the  resources  of  the  family 
are  conserved  and  increased.  These  activities  are 
no  less  productive  than  those  of  the  husband.  And 
thus,  through  this  division  of  labor  and  cooperation, 
that  " common  end  of  mutual  good"  of  which  eco- 
nomic welfare  is  a  phase,  is  more  efficiently  gained. 
It  has  already  been  explained  that  personality  can 
be  realized  best  only  as  economic  conditions  are 
favorable.  And  thus  the  economic  function  of  the 
home  is  an  important  phase  of  its  total  function. 

The  ethical  function. — The  home  has  also  its  ethi- 
cal function.  It  is  not  worth  while  here  to  dwell 
upon  this  point,  for  it  has  already  been  developed 
to  a  certain  extent;  and  indeed  the  ethical  value  of 
the  home  is  the  topic  with  which  this  entire  chapter 
is  to  deal  in  a  somewhat  larger  way.  But  for  the 
sake  of  completeness  in  our  somewhat  philosophical 
view  of  the  home,  it  is  well  to  mention  its  ethical 
function  along  with  the  biological,  the  psychologi- 
cal, the  economic,  the  social,  and  the  religious. 

The  social  and  religious  function. — The  social  and 
religious  values  may  be  considered  together.  In  en- 
tering into  the  marriage  covenant  those  concerned 
are  establishing  a  new  set  of  social  relations.  On 
the  one  hand,  husband  and  wife  come  into  a  much 
more  intimate  and  personal  relation  than  can  ever 


THE   CRITEBION   APPLIED:   THE   HOME.  79 

be  approached  in  mere  friendship;  and  traits  of 
character  and  disposition  which  had  not  before  been 
suspected  become  apparent.  There  is  a  certain 
amount  of  disillusionment  inevitable,  no  doubt,  as 
the  humanity  of  each  becomes  apparent  to  the 
other;  but  to  the  extent  to  which  husband  and  wife 
are  properly  mated,  there  will  be  an  added  stimulus 
to  individual  and  social  endeavor;  life  will  take  on 
new  meaning  and  its  possibilities  will  enlarge.  From 
this  inner  aspect  marriage  means  an  enrichment  of 
social  experience  and  a  new  evaluation  of  life,  with 
added  stimulus  for  effort  and  development. 

But  over  and  above  this,  the  establishment  of  a 
home  means  the  establishemnt  of  new  social  rela- 
tions of  a  larger  kind.  "It  is  the  assuming  of  ties 
which  make  the  parties  in  a  new  and  deeper  sense  an 
organic  part  of  humanity. ' '  And  society  in  turn  ex- 
presses its  vital  interest  in  the  union  through  its 
laws  and  customs  regarding  the  marriage  relation. 
Each  party  thereafter  passes  current  in  the  world 
not  merely  as  an  individual  but  as  a  member  and 
representative  of  a  home. 

The  home  also,  next  to  the  church,  is  the  most  im- 
portant agency  in  the  development  of  a  religious  ex- 
perience, without  which  no  personality  has  reached 
its  highest  possibility.  Love,  sympathetic  service, 
sacrifice,  all  take  on  new  meaning.  The  fatherhood 
of  God  and  the  brotherhood  of  man  become  more 
significant;  especially  is  this  true  when  there  are 
children  in  the  home.  There  the  child  learns  for  the 


80  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

first  time  by  analogy,  and  the  parent  relearns  in 
virtue  of  his  parenthood,  something  of  what  the  love 
of  the  Father  must  mean.  And  in  the  proper  train- 
ing of  the  children  the  religious  side  of  life  is  deep- 
ened and  enriched  for  all.  These  then,  the  biological, 
the  psychological,  the  economic,  the  social,  and  the 
religious,  are  the  various  phases  of  the  function  of 
the  home. 

Marriage  entered  into  too  lightly. — We  had  set 
out  to  consider  some  of  the  things  which  are  threat- 
ening the  sanctity  and  stability  of  the  home,  and  it 
may  seem  that  we  have  gone  far  afield  in  the  discus- 
sion which  has  just  preceded.  But  the  reason  for 
the  apparent  digression  will  now  be  clear,  as  we 
come  back  to  the  first  fact  that  was  mentioned: 
namely,  that  marriage  is  frequently  entered  into  too 
lightly.  That  many  divorces  are  made  necessary 
because  those  concerned  did  not  seriously  consider 
this  step  which  they  were  taking,  cannot  be  denied. 
In  all  too  many  cases  marriage  is  entered  into  upon 
the  sole  basis  of  sex  attraction  or  of  passing  fancy. 
It  must  be  granted  that  in  the  normal  and  natural 
marriage  this  factor  of  sex  attraction  is  present. 
Indeed  the  fundamental  biological  function  of  mar- 
riage would  be  thwarted  but  for  this  instinctive  at- 
traction. Yet  while  love  is  defined  largely  in  terms 
of  emotion,  it  is  based  upon  other  factors  also  in  its 
higher  and  more  human  form.  That  love  which  alone 
can  be  the  abiding  basis  of  a  happy  and  stimulating 
marriage  involves,  besides  the  instinctive  and  emo- 


THE   CRITERION    APPLIED:    THE   HOME.  81 

tional  element,  a  steadfast  disposition  on  the  part  of 
each  to  labor  and  to  sacrifice  for  the  attainment  of 
the  " common  end  of  mutual  good"  to  which  refer- 
ence has  been  made.  True  marriage  is  the  union  of 
two  personalities.  And  this  means  more  than  the 
force  of  an  emotional  and  instinctive  attraction 
which  of  itself  would  soon  be  consumed  in  the  heat 
of  its  own  passion  and  leave  the  disillusioned  ones 
uninteresting  if  not  actually  repellent  to  each  other. 
On  the  contrary,  true  marriage  means  a  union  in 
which  there  are  common  interests  and  ideals,  in 
which  those  systems  of  ends  and  purposes,  the  hav- 
ing of  which  constitutes  personality,  are  in  harmony. 
Only  those  who  through  education  or  environment 
are  committed  to  the  same  general  policies  of  life 
and  have  similar  tastes  and  ambitions,  or  who,  lack- 
ing this,  discover  in  each  other  some  other  source  of 
sympathy  and  unity  of  purpose,  can  find  in  marriage 
a  blessing  and  not  a  curse.  The  failure  on  the  part 
of  those  concerned  to  show  a  proper  appreciation  of 
the  true  function  of  the  home  in  its  entirety  cannot 
but  lead  to  disaster.  That  is,  the  failure  on  the  part 
of  each  seriously  to  consider  the  wisdom  of  marriage 
with  the  other,  from  the  points  of  view  which  we 
have  called  the  psychological,  the  economic,  the  ethi- 
cal, the  social,  and  the  religious,  makes  that  mar- 
riage a  sacrilege  and  a  gamble.  This  is  what  is  meant 
by  saying  that  marriage  is  entered  into  too  lightly. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  the  ease  with  which  divorce 


82  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

may  be  procured  makes  people  willing  to  take  the 
chance  or  make  the  gamble. 

It  is  this  failure  which  makes  marriage  result  so 
disastrously  in  so  many  cases.  In  developing  our 
principle  we  have  seen  that  a  socialized  conscience 
involves  five  virtues, — intelligence,  prudence,  pur- 
pose, justice,  and  good- will.  Now  it  is  almost  inevi- 
table that  when  two  people  hasten  into  marriage 
mainly  upon  the  basis  of  an  emotional  attraction 
and  without  the  exercise  of  these  virtues  the  result 
will  be  a  failure.  On  the  other  hand  an  intelligent 
consideration  of  the  fundamental  nature  of  the  home 
as  a  social  institution  will  prevent  many  an  unhappy 
alliance  which  would  otherwise  come  up  for  dissolu- 
tion in  the  divorce  court.  This  intelligent  consider- 
ation would  involve  a  view  of  the  probable  remote 
consequences  and  conditions  as  well  as  of  immediate 
desire.  The  whole  question  as  to  the  compatability 
of  tastes,  ambitions,  purposes,  and  ideals  would  be 
rationally  considered.  For  example,  to  take  a  ques- 
tion from  the  economic  aspect  of  the  home,  the  point 
may  well  be  considered  whether  the  man  is  finan- 
cially able  to  assume  the  added  burden  of  a  home, 
or  whether  the  woman  has  tastes  regarding  dress, 
home  decoration,  and  social  relations  which  are  in- 
commensurate with  the  income,  and  whether  either 
one  or  both  are  willing  to  sacrfice  those  personal 
habits,  desires,  and  tastes  which,  if  persisted  in, 
would  prove  stumbling  blocks  in  the  way  of  a  har- 
monious and  happy  home  life.  This  is  only  one  of 


THE   CRITERION   APPLIED:    THE   HOME.  83 

a  countless  number  of  concrete  questions  regarding 
the  foundation  of  a  home  which  ought  to  be  met 
frankly  and  considered  intelligently  by  both  parties. 

It  will  not  be  necessary  to  consider  in  detail  how 
the  other  virtues  of  the  socialized  conscience  would 
function  if  they  were  operative.  It  is  at  once  obvi- 
ous, however,  that  intelligent  consideration  of  these 
questions  would  naturally  and  normally  lead  to  a 
functioning  of  the  other  virtues  of  prudence,  pur- 
pose, justice,  and  good-will. 

Lack  of  consideration. — When  one  tries  to  inquire 
into  the  reasons  why  marriage  is  thus  lightly  re- 
garded and  hastily  entered  upon  much  difficulty  is 
encountered.  The  fact  is  that  the  whole  attitude  of 
society  to  the  question  of  marriage  is  characterized 
by  levity  and  a  lack  of  proper  seriousness.  This  is 
manifest  in  a  variety  of  ways.  For  example,  domes- 
tic infelicities  serve  as  one  of  the  standard  subjects 
of  the  joke-smith  in  the  funny  column  and  in  the 
Sunday  supplement  of  the  daily  press.  The  subject 
has  likewise  been  one  of  the  most  fruitful  ones  dealt 
with  in  a  certain  type  of  popular  song,  on  the  vaude- 
ville stage,  and  in  the  moving  picture  show.  The 
result  is  that  it  has  become  the  custom  to  talk  and 
think  of  marriage  in  a  light  and  superficial  way. 

It  is  inevitable  that  as  children  witness  unpleasant 
scenes  in  the  family,  or  pore  over  the  doubtful  wit 
of  the  funny  paper  and  hear  the  disparaging  jests 
of  their  elders  concerning  marriage,  they  should 
come  to  have  a  distorted  and  perverted  view  regard- 


84  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

ing  this  most  important  phase  of  life.  Further,  when 
these  same  children  come  in  their  turn  to  maturity,  it 
is  equally  inevitable  that  they  are  those  who  will  be 
led  by  the  first  flame  of  passion  into  a  hasty  and  un- 
considered  marriage.  And  with  their  children  the 
disastrous  course  is  likely  to  be  repeated.  Thus 
through  unconscious  suggestion  and  imitation  every 
one,  and  especially  the  children,  slips  gradually  into 
an  unwholesome  attitude  regarding  this  subject  un- 
less some  definite  influence  both  of  example  and 
training  is  exerted  to  stem  the  tide  of  popular  tend- 
ency. 

The  undesirable  attitude  of  society  has  been 
further  aggravated  by  the  laxity  regarding  divorce. 
Divorce  is  thus  seen  to  be  both  a  cause  and  an  effect 
of  a  complicated  social  evil.  The  ease  with  which  a 
divorce  can  usually  be  obtained  encourages  those 
who  most  need  to  consider  seriously  the  question  of 
marriage  in  making  a  trial  of  it  with  the  idea  that, 
if  it  does  not  prove  to  be  satisfactory,  it  can  be  dis- 
solved. The  attitude  of  a  large  portion  of  society 
is  expressed  by  the  statement  of  the  girl  who  after  a 
few  weeks  of  unhappy  married  life  remarked  to  a 
friend:  "0  yes,  George  has  left  me  and  papa  is 
going  to  get  me  a  divorce. ' '  In  actual  practice  the 
marriage  vow  has  come  to  be  merely  a  license  to 
make  a  trial  of  the  marriage  relation  which,  if  not 
satisfactory,  may  be  nullified  by  divorce;  and  the 
latter  is  regarded  as  a  commodity  which  can  be  pur- 
chased by  putting  up  the  necessary  price  and  going 


THE   CRITERION   APPLIED:    THE   HOME.  85 

through  a  certain  formula.  The  result  of  this  tacit 
understanding  on  the  part  of  a  large  portion  of 
society  is  further  to  increase  the  laxity  with  which 
the  more  superficial  and  thoughtless  regard  mar- 
riage and  the  home.  It  further  obscures  the  sense  of 
the  fundamental  and  abiding  nature  of  the  home  as 
a  social  institution.  It  makes  it  more  difficult  and 
at  the  same  time  seemingly  less  necessary  to  give 
the  subject  the  intellectual  and  prudential  considera- 
tion which  in  justice  to  those  immediately  concerned 
and  to  society  it  should  hava  The  notoriety  which 
the  numerous  divorce  proceedings  of  the  idle  rich 
are  given  in  the  daily  press  is  particularly  baleful  in 
its  influence  upon  society.  Ours  is  a  tendency  to 
evaluate  life  in  terms  of  money,  and  the  man  or 
woman  of  wealth  is  therefore  the  object  of  an  abnor- 
mal and  hypnotic  attention  on  the  part  of  society  at 
large.  Consequently  the  actions  of  these  persons,  no 
matter  how  despicable  they  may  be,  are  unusually 
and  abnormally  strong  in  their  suggestiveness  and 
power  as  objects  of  imitation.  This  tendency  then 
to  enter  the  marriage  relation  without  sufficient  con- 
sideration is  one  of  the  forces  which  is  tending  to 
undermine  the  stability  of  the  home,  and  is  one  of 
the  causes  of  divorce  which  has  become  so  prevalent. 

III.     SEX  IMMORALITY. 

The  sex  impulse. — A  second  great  evil  which  is 
threatening  the  home  is  what  is  known  as  the  social 
evil,  or  sex  immorality.  This  evil  and  the  organiza- 


86  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

tion  by  which  it  is  promoted  are  truly  staggering  in 
their  proportions.  Sex  immorality  grows  out  of  the 
abuse  of  one  of  the  most  deep-seated  and  strongest 
instinctive  tendencies  of  the  race;  and  the  hardier 
and  more  virile  the  race,  the  stronger  the  impulse. 
Biologically  considered,  a  strong  sex  instinct  is  an 
absolute  necessity  for  a  strong  and  progressive  race. 
Looked  at  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  individual 
also,  other  things  being  equal,  the  more  strongly 
sexed  the  individual  is,  the  better  the  foundation 
for  a  strong  personality.  The  strength  of  this  im- 
pulse may  be  regarded  as  an  index  of  the  possible 
strength  of  character  of  the  individual;  of  the  pos- 
sible manliness  of  the  man  and  womanliness  of  the 
woman.  Upon  it  depend  in  large  measure  the  initia- 
tive and  force  of  character  which  make  achievement 
possible  for  man,  and  the  grace  and  charm  of  person- 
ality which  ought  to  be  the  birthright  of  every 
woman. 

It  is  thus  seen  that  the  sex  impulse  is  not  in  itself 
an  evil  thing.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  a  force  which 
under  proper  conditions  is  of  incalculable  worth; 
for  from  it  may  spring  motives  for  achievement  in 
the  economic,  social,  and  even  religious  realms,  as 
well  as  in  the  biological  and  moral.  The  ethical 
problem  in  connection  with  this  great  and  compel- 
ling force  is  so  to  direct  it  that  it  shall  be  a  source  of 
good  both  to  the  individual  and  to  society.  The  very 
intensity  of  the  passion  and  of  the  sensuous  pleasure 
in  its  gratification  makes  its  illegitimate  satisfaction 


THE    CRITERION   APPLIED:    THE   HOME.  87 

one  of  the  supreme  human  temptations.  Hence  the 
problem  of  directing  its  force  into  right  and  proper 
channels  is  one  of  the  greatest  and  most  difficult  with 
which  the  civilized  race  has  to  deal.  Furthermore, 
just  because  of  its  strength  there  is  perhaps  no  hu- 
man capacity  or  tendency  whose  abuse  will  so  rap- 
idly and  completely  destroy  the  personality  of  man 
as  the  one  under  consideration.  In  like  manner,  and 
through  the  breaking  down  of  personality,  it  equally 
rapidly  and  completely  destroys  the  home  of  its 
victim. 

The  sex  impulse  commercialized. — In  the  further 
consideration  of  the  problem  it  may  be  well  first  to 
state  the  facts  regarding  the  status  of  this  evil  of 
sex  immorality  in  society;  second,  some  of  its  causes; 
and  finally  to  suggest  the  remedy  for  the  condition 
in  so  far  as  it  rests  upon  ethical  principles.  We  can 
only  touch  the  surface  with  regard  to  the  facts  of 
the  situation.  One  of  the  saddest  features  of  the 
whole  affair  is  the  extent  to  which  men's  passions 
and  woman's  virtue  have  been  commercialized.  The 
unholy  greed  for  gain  knows  absolutely  no  respect 
for  the  persons  or  souls  of  the  victims  who  may  be 
the  means  to  its  ends.  The  uncounted  army  of 
women  and  girls  who  endure  a  living  death  is  awful 
testimony  to  this  fact.  It  is  said  that  in  the  city  of 
Chicago  with  a  population  of  two  million  inhabitants 
there  are  as  many  as  five  thousand  professional 
prostitutes.8  Of  these  a  great  many  are  "white 

'The  Social  Evil  in  Chio&go,  1911. 


88  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

slaves,"  being  held  in  bodily  and  spiritual  ser- 
vitude against  their  will.  Consider  the  awful  signi- 
ficance of  these  figures.  It  means  that  approximately 
one  in  every  one  hundred  women  in  that  city  is  a 
professional  prostitute;  and  this  takes  no  account  of 
the  uncounted  number  of  shop  and  factory  girls  who 
occasionally  yield  to  the  temptation  to  sell  their 
virtue  in  exchange  for  the  "good  times"  and  the 
little  extras  in  the  way  of  dress  which  their  meager 
earnings  will  not  permit  them  to  have  otherwise.  It 
means  also  that  there  exists  the  approximate  pro- 
portion of  one  woman  of  ill-fame  to  each  one  hun- 
dred men ;  and  this  again  fails  to  take  account  of  the 
unknown  number  of.  men  who  are  not  willing  to  be 
known  as  patrons  of  houses  of  ill-fame,  but  who  do 
not  hesitate  to  buy  with  favor  or  money  the  virtue 
of  the  girl  to  whom  virtue  no  longer  appeals  as  being 
such  a  priceless  possession  in  the  face  of  possible 
starvation.  It  means,  again,  that  the  sanctity  of  a 
possible  one  in  every  fifty  homes  has  been  sacrificed, 
and  that  through  unfaithfulness  this  number  of 
homes  will  either  be  wrecked  or  never  established; 
and  this  again  leaves  out  of  account  those  homes 
that  are  invaded  by  this  evil  through  the  other 
means  referred  to  above. 

If  the  facts  could  be  known,  it  would  probably  be 
found  that  there  are  as  many  more  who  have  illicit 
sex  relations  as  are  numbered  in  the  professional 
prostitute  class.  An  industrial  system  that  makes  it 
necessary  to  pay  wages  which  in  some  instances  will 


THE   CEITEEION   APPLIED:    THE   HOME.  89 

scarcely  buy  the  barest  necessities  of  life,  is  one  of 
the  things  which  is  responsible  for  so  many  selling 
themselves  into  temporary  or  permanent  prostitu- 
tion. In  these  days  of  high  cost  of  living,  the  work- 
ing girl,  whether  in  shop,  factory,  or  department 
store,  whose  wage  is  five,  six,  or  even  seven  dollars 
a  week,  cannot  possibly  maintain  herself  in  health 
and  comfort,  to  say  nothing  of  having  the  extras  in 
the  way  of  clothing  and  amusement  which  are  all 
but  necessities  to  the  normal  and  healthy  girl,  upon 
the  wage  received.  In  many  instances  she  must  also 
contribute  to  the  support  of  the  family.  Under  cir- 
cumstances such  as  these  the  wonder  is  that  there 
are  so  many  who  remain  true  to  their  ideals  of  virtue 
and  purity. 

The  "double  standard." — There  is  another  phase 
of  this  question  which  is  closely  related  to  the  one 
we  have  just  been  considering,  and  this  is  the  greater 
or  less  credence  given  by  society  to  the  proposition 
that  young  men  must  "sow  their  wild  oats."  It  is 
tacitly  assumed  by  many  that  it  is  a  normal  and — 
unhappily — a  necessary  stage  in  the  development  of 
a  young  man  for  him  to  gratify  the  new  passions  that 
adolescence  brings,  and  that  after  he  has  had  his 
fling  and  gained  his  knowledge  of  the  world  and  its 
ways,  there  is  then  time  enough  in  which  he  may  set- 
tle down  and  assume  the  responsibilities  of  life.  Ac- 
cordingly, it  has  been  all  too  common  in  the  past  to 
hold  one  standard  of  morality  for  men  and  another 
for  women.  Society  accepts  and  condones  conduct 


90  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

in  a  young  man  which  would  make  of  his  sister  an 
outcast  and  a  disgrace,  and  which  would  condemn 
her  to  a  social  ostracism  from  which  no  amount  of 
piety  could  afterward  release  her.  There  is  no  more 
inherent  reason  why  a  young  man  should  thus  con- 
duct himself  and  escape  a  just  social  punishment 
than  there  is  why  a  young  woman  may  not.  Hap- 
pily, this  old  idea  of  the  double  standard  is  passing 
away.  Speed  the  day  when  the  one  universal  law 
regarding  sex  morality  shall  be  recognized  as 
equally  binding  upon  all  members  of  society  alike! 

Disease. — There  is  one  more  point  which  must  at 
least  be  mentioned  in  this  connection.  If  the  fruits 
of  men's  sins  were  visited  upon  the  guilty  alone,  the 
injustice  of  the  situation  would  not  be  so  overwhelm- 
ing. But  such  is  not  the  case.  The  physical,  mental, 
and  spiritual  suffering  heaped  upon  the  innocent 
through  the  loathsome  diseases  which  are  often  the 
result  of  sexual  immorality  is  one  of  the  most  awful 
consequences  of  the  whole  social  evil.  A  contagious 
disease  is  contracted  in  the  days  of  his  sin  by  a  man 
and  is  later  transmitted  to  wife  and  children,  who 
are  thereafter  doomed  to  live  a  life  of  suspicion  and 
shame  as  the  unjust  consequences  of  his  folly.  No 
punishment  could  be  invented  which  would  be  too 
severe  for  this  kind  of  sin. 

Social  taboo. — We  have  just  passed  in  review  a 
few  of  the  gruesome  facts  pertaining  to  the  sex  im- 
morality of  our  times.  Let  us  now  inquire  into  the 
causes  of  these  conditions,  in  so  far  as  they  are  re- 


THE   CBITEBION   APPLIED:   THE   HOME.  91 

lated  to  the  moral  life.  The  statement  of  the  causes 
will  in  itself  suggest  the  remedy  in  so  far  as  the  prin- 
ciples underlying  the  latter  are  concerned.  We  may 
therefore  consider  the  two  things — causes  and  rem- 
edies— together. 

In  the  first  place  it  is  one  of  the  greatest  misfor- 
tunes which  has  ever  befallen  the  human  race  that 
this,  one  of  the  most  fundamental  and  most  signifi- 
cant of  human  relationships,  is  a  subject  which  may 
not  be  spoken  of  or  talked  about.  The  fact  that 
ignorance  about  sex  matters  has  been  counted  as 
innocence  and  prudery  as  virtue  is  responsible  for 
more  sexual  vice  than  all  other  causes  combined. 
This  cannot  be  too  strongly  emphasized.  Social 
taboo  of  this  subject  has  driven  and  will  continue  to 
drive  the  boys  and  girls  of  every  generation  to  the 
vilest  and  most  unwholesome  sources  of  information 
regarding  this  phase  of  life.  The  very  fact  of  the 
fundamental  nature  of  the  sex  impulse  and  its 
strength  makes  it  a  topic  of  unending  curiosity;  and 
if  this  curiosity,  which  is  natural  and  normal,  is  not 
satisfied  in  a  frank,  straightforward,  and  scientific 
manner,  it  will  get  satisfaction  from  illegitimate 
sources  and  in  illegitimate  ways.  And  if  driven  to 
the  latter  method  it  is  inevitable  that  the  boy  or  girl 
will  acquire  perverted  and  vicious  notions  and  per- 
haps practices  that  will  have  to  be  covered  up  by 
secretiveness  and  false  modesty,  which  is  worse  than 
degrading. 


92  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

Sex  education. — Proper  education  and  training  of 
children  regarding  the  matters  of  sex  offers  one  of 
the  very  best  and  most  workable  methods  of  enlight- 
ening the  consciences  of  the  next  generation.  Obvi- 
ously this  education  should  be  begun  in  the  home, 
after  which  it  may  be  more  systematically  and  scien- 
tifically carried  on  in  the  school.  But  it  is  in  the 
home  that  the  child's  first  questions  about  the  mys- 
teries of  his  own  existence  and  of  sex  are  asked. 
And  they  should  be  met  with  frankness  and  honesty, 
and  the  proper  and  true  explanation  of  these  facts 
should  be  given  in  so  far  as  the  child  is  able  to  un- 
derstand. But  how  almost  universal  it  is  that  the 
child  is  given  to  understand  from  the  very  first  that 
this  subject  is  tabooed;  that  it  is  one  about  which  he 
may  not  ask  questions.  Or  if  this  is  not  the  case, 
how  common  it  is  to  meet  the  question  with  some 
fairy-story-like  explanation  which  satisfies  for  the 
time  being  only.  The  result  of  the  failure  on  the 
part  of  the  parents  to  face  this  problem  frankly  and 
fearlessly  is  that  the  child  grows  distrustful  of  them 
while  at  the  same  time  his  curiosity  is  unnaturally 
stimulated  so  that  he  seeks  and  finds  the  information 
from  other  sources  which  are  anything  but  whole- 
some. 

Origin  of  double  standard. — It  is  only  necessary 
to  mention  some  of  the  other  factors  which  are  re- 
sponsible for  conditions  as  they  exist.  Indeed  some 
of  these  have  already  been  mentioned.  Reference 
has  been  made  to  the  double  standard,  which  is  rap- 


THE   OBITEKION   APPLIED:   THE   HOME.  93 

idly  passing  away.  As  to  its  origin,  it  is  probably 
to  be  considered  as  a  survival  of  the  time  when  the 
wife  and  children  were  regarded  as  the  property  of 
the  husband  and  father.  Under  such  conditions,  if 
an  assault  were  made  upon  the  wife  or  daughter, 
the  man  would  regard  it  as  attack  upon  and  an  in- 
jury to  his  property,  and  would  accordingly  resent 
the  assault  as  a  direct  personal  insult.  Furthermore, 
under  these  conditions  in  which  marriage  was  con- 
sidered partly,  at  least,  as  a  matter  of  barter  and 
trade,  chastity  in  a  woman  had  a  direct  market 
value.  Hence  all  of  the  customs  and  traditions  of 
society  would  operate  to  hedge  woman  about  with 
an  iron  law  regarding  sex  relations;  and  in  this  she 
acquiesced.  On  the  other  hand,  man  as  master  and 
owner  was  bound  by  no  such  law.  He  was  the  law 
and  his  conduct  therefore  did  not  come  under  its 
dominion;  he  was  at  liberty  to  follow  the  dictates  of 
his  desires  and  passions. 

It  is  also  argued  that  * '  There  are  essential  natural 
reasons  why  chastity  should  be  more  demanded  in 
woman  than  in  man.  She  is  in  greater  peril ;  she  car- 
ries the  family  line,  and  her  virtue  is  especially  sig- 
nificant where  property  is  to  be  inherited."4  The 
exigencies  of  war,  of  the  hunt,  and  of  the  hazardous 
occupation  constantly  deplete  the  male  population 
of  a  tribe  or  nation,  and  make  polygamous  practices 
a  biological  necessity.  Under  these  conditions  and 
in  the  light  of  the  fact  that  infant  mortality  is  high, 


'Smith :  Social  Pathology,  p.  273. 


94  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

race  survival  demands  that  there  shall  be  a  larger 
proportion  of  children  than  could  be  produced  under 
strict  monogamous  conditions. 

Against  this  view  may  be  urged  the  fact  that  it  is 
the  business  of  civilization  to  eliminate  just  the  con- 
ditions which  may  perhaps  make  polygamous  prac- 
tices necessary,  or  at  least  give  excuse  for  them  in 
primitive  society.  Civilization  is  working  towards 
the  extermination  of  war,  of  hazardous  working 
conditions,  and  of  all  factors  which  are  destruc- 
tive to  life  and  limb,  so  that  the  force  of  the  biologi- 
cal argument  is  broken,  when  the  attempt  is  made  to 
apply  it  to  life  under  conditions  of  civilization. 

Again,  from  the  psychological  standpoint,  it  is 
doubtless  a  fact  that  sex  feelings  and  impulses  are 
stronger  in  man  than  in  woman;  and  nature,  having 
adjusted  matters  in  this  way,  may  herself  seem  to 
justify  greater  sex  freedom  in  the  former  than  in  the 
later.  But  we  have  seen  that  the  moral  life  consists 
in  the  proper  control  and  organization  of  impulsive 
and  instinctive  tendencies  and  desires,  through  the 
agency  of  reason.  But  if  man  is  the  possessor  of  a 
superior  reason — as  he  sometimes  boasts — the  argu- 
ment that  his  stronger  sex  impulses  should  give  him 
greater  license  does  not  carry  conviction.  The  truth 
is  that,  looked  at  critically,  the  doctrine  of  the  dou- 
ble standard  has  no  rational  ground  under  present 
conditions. 

Economic  condition  of  women. — It  is  only  recently 
that  the  force  of  this  tradition  and  custom  has  begun 


THE   CBITEBION   APPLIED:   THE   HOME.  95 

to  be  broken.  It  is  only  since  woman  is  no  longer 
bound  by  custom  and  necessity  to  marry  at  any  cost 
that  there  is  any  leverage  with  which  to  overthrow 
the  doctrine  of  the  double  standard.  This  change 
has  been  brought  about  largely  through  woman's 
increased  economic  independence,  of  which  mention 
has  already  been  made.  She  is  now  in  a  position  to 
dictate  terms ;  and  it  lies  within  her  power  to  demand 
that  the  man  who  seeks  her  hand  in  marriage  shall 
accept  and  practice  the  same  standard  regarding 
sex  morality  that  rules  her  own  life.  This  is  not  only 
her  privilege,  but  it  is  her  duty.  And  she  must  edu- 
cate her  sons  and  daughters  to  accept  the  validity 
of  the  single  standard;  she  must  teach  them  both 
that  there  is  but  one  moral  law  regarding  this  matter 
and  that  it  is  equally  binding  upon  both  sexes. 

While  the  economic  condition  of  woman  as  a  class 
is  much  better  than  it  was  formerly,  there  is  yet  much 
to  be  desired.  Reference  has  already  been  made  to 
the  fact  that  the  pressure  of  economic  conditions  has 
driven  many  women  unwillingly  into  a  life  of  shame. 
And  as  long  as  society  permits  an  industrial  arrange- 
ment in  which  the  minimum  wage  paid  to  women 
workers  is  insufficient  to  buy  the  necessities  of  life 
plus  enough  to  insure  proper  clothing  and  amuse- 
ments, the  shame  of  those  who  fall  is  upon  each  and 
every  member  of  society.  The  condition  is  one  which 
can  be  remedied  only  as  the  whole  of  society  cooper- 
ates; separate  individuals,  no  matter  how  efficient 
and  how  wide  their  influence,  can  do  very  little.  It 


96  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

behooves  the  intelligent  members  of  society  there- 
fore to  consider  the  question  and  to  do  each  his 
share  in  arousing  a  thoroughgoing  public  sentiment 
against  conditions  which  make  it  all  but  impossible 
for  many  working  girls  to  earn  an  honest  livelihood 
without  selling  their  virtue. 

The  "white  slave  traffic." — Two  other  factors 
should  be  mentioned  as  being  contributory  to  this 
evil,  namely,  the  organized  traffic  in  woman 's  virtue, 
and  the  saloon.  Just  as  a  superior  organization  in 
any  other  business  creates  a  greater  demand  for  a 
commodity,  which  in  turn  makes  it  possible  to  sup- 
ply the  increased  demand  with  ease  and  facility,  just 
so  does  organization  in  the  matter  of  the  social  evil 
work.  There  is  a  question  as  to  how  far  organization 
along  this  line  has  gone,  since  it  is  a  matter  concern- 
ing which  it  is  difficult  and  even  impossible  to  get 
accurate  information.  But  there  can  be  no  doubt 
that  prostitution  is  a  commercialized  business.  In 
Chicago  the  annual  profit  from  the  traffic  in  the  5,000 
professional  prostitutes  is  estimated  by  the  Vice 
Commission  at  fifteen  million  dollars.  It  is  also 
certain  beyond  doubt  that  there  is  more  or  less 
thorough  organization  in  the  matter  of  procuring 
victims  for  houses  of  prostitution.  It  is  a  further 
fact  that  no  girl  or  woman  is  entirely  safe  from  the 
clutches  of  this  nefarious  organization  anywhere  in 
the  land,  and  particularly  in  our  larger  cities.  How 
it  is  possible  that  a  man  or  woman  can  sink  to  the 
depths  where  he  or  she  is  willing  to  wrest  a  liveli- 


THE   CRITERION    APPLIED:    THE   HOME.  97 

hood  from  society  through  the  sacrifice  of  the  physi- 
cal, mental,  and  spiritual  life  of  innocent  girls  is 
more  than  a  rational  creature  can  understand.  But 
such  is  the  fact.  And  until  society  shall  be  able  to 
exterminate  this  form  of  social  disease,  which  means 
the  utter  moral  degredation  and  the  physical  and 
mental  death  of  unnumbered  thousands  of  young 
men  and  women  of  our  country,  we  must  hide  our 
faces  in  shame  at  the  awful  consequences  of  our 
boasted  civilization. 

The  saloon. — The  licensed  saloon  also  has  a  large 
share  in  this  evil.  In  the  first  place  it  is  a  well- 
known  fact  that  the  saloon  is  in  league  with  the 
social  evil.  It  is  indeed  the  exception  to  find  in  cer- 
tain cities  a  saloon  which  is  not  connected  directly  or 
indirectly  with  a  house  of  ill-fame,  and  likewise 
which  either  directly  or  indirectly  lends  its  aid  to 
the  white  slave  traffic.  Indeed  the  promoters  of 
these  two  festering  social  diseases  mutually  help 
each  other  in  the  task  of  taking  the  money  and  the 
lives  of  their  common  victims;  and  in  all  but  excep- 
tional cases  they  cooperate  to  corrupt  city  govern- 
ments in  order  that  the  law  may  wink  at  their  im- 
moral and  unsocial  businesses.  In  the  second  place, 
the  effect  of  alcohol  upon  a  man  is  to  fire  his  sensual 
passions,  heighten  his  imagination,  and  dull  his 
moral  sense.  And  what  his  conduct  will  be  under 
these  conditions  is  too  obvious  to  mention. 

The  presence  of  the  legalized  saloon  signifies  that 
the  government  is  willing  to  license  a  few  men  to 


98  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

fire  the  passions  and  dull  the  conscience  and  weaken 
the  wills  of  other  men,  so  that  they  go  forth  from  the 
saloon  as  breakers  of  the  law  and  as  wreckers  of 
woman 's  virtue.  While  these  are  largely  matters  of 
social  import  and  problems  which  must  be  solved 
by  society  as  a  whole,  we  must  remember  that  so- 
ciety is  composed  of  individuals  and  that  we  are 
those  individuals.  Hence  there  rests  upon  each  one 
the  obligation  imposed  by  the  socialized  conscience. 
It  is  only  as  the  members  of  society  are  stirred  into 
action  by  the  promptings  of  conscience  that  these 
evils  can  be  removed  from  the  social  tissue  and  so- 
cial health  be  gained.  The  members  of  society  must 
act  in  concert  against  these  traffics. 

The  moral  principle  applied. — Whatever  else  they 
are,  these  are  moral  problems;  and  ethics  as  the 
science  of  morality  must  offer  the  first  suggestion  as 
to  their  solution.  The  one  absolutely  essential  thing 
from  this  point  of  view  is  that  every  member  of 
society  shall  have  his  conscience  thoroughly  aroused 
in  regard  to  the  matter.  If  this  could  be  brought  to 
pass,  the  beginning  of  the  end  of  the  condition  would 
have  come.  But  in  order  that  this  shall  be  brought 
about  it  is  necessary  first  that  the  members  of  society 
shall  be  made  intelligent  upon  the  question.  Soc- 
rates' proposition  that  knowledge  is  virtue  may 
have  been  somewhat  extreme  in  an  unqualified  form, 
but  there  is  this  much  truth  in  it,  that  knowledge  is 
the  prerequisite  of  virtue;  and  that  other  things  being 
equal,  the  possession  of  knowledge  will  lead  to  virtu- 


THE   CRITERION    APPLIED:   THE   HOME.  99 

ous  action.  So  in  this  case,  if  the  intelligent  members 
of  society  could  have  a  vivid  and  complete  knowledge 
of  the  facts  as  they  are,  nothing  could  prevent  them 
from  rising  up  as  an  organized  whole  and  eradicating 
these  pathological  conditions  which  have  so  great  a 
bearing  upon  the  character  of  our  people.  Great  evils 
such  as  these  can  exist  only  under  cover  of  the  dark- 
ness of  ignorance.  And  when  once  this  darkness  is 
dispelled  and  the  members  of  society  are  intelligent 
upon  the  question,  the  other  virtues  of  the  socialized 
conscience  will  at  once  become  operative.  Without 
intelligence  as  a  foundation  there  is  no  basis  for  pru- 
dence, purpose,  justice,  and  good- will.  The  first  and 
absolutely  essential  thing  then  is  the  enlightenment 
of  the  consciences  of  men;  this  is  the  basis  of  the 
whole  solution,  as  far  as  ethics  is  concerned. 

IV.    FRICTION  WITHIN  THE  HOME. 

Temperamental  differences. — There  are  also  certain 
sources  of  friction  within  the  home  which,  while  not 
always  entirely  disrupting  it  and  causing  divorce, 
yet  make  it  a  place  ill-adapted  to  the  growth  of  per- 
sonality; and  by  virtue  of  this  fact  they  should  be 
included  in  a  list  of  the  things  which  are  working  for 
the  overthrow  of  the  home,  at  least  in  its  more  per- 
fect type.  Among  these  things  may  be  mentioned  the 
following:  differences  in  temperament  between  hus- 
band and  wife,  differences  in  occupation,  differences 
in  attitude  towards  the  home,  the  fact  that  the  wife 
has  no  purse  of  her  own,  and  lack  of  sympathy  be- 


100  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

tween  parent  and  child.6  While  there  are  character- 
istics in  each  sex  which  are  attractive  to  the  other, 
there  are  also  differences  in  temperament  and  point 
of  view  which  in  the  contact  of  daily  life  may  prove 
to  be  sources  of  friction  and  tension.  This  is  particu- 
larly true  when  external  conditions  are  such  as  to 
tend  to  make  husband  or  wife  nervous  and  irritable; 
under  conditions  of  this  kind  the  home  life  is  likely  to 
be  marred  by  discord  and  inharmony,  unless  special 
effort  is  made  on  the  part  of  each  to  exercise  patience, 
forebearance,  and  sympathy.  These  temperamental 
differences  are  likely  to  be  further  emphasized  by  the 
difference  of  occupation  of  the  two.  The  man's  in- 
terest is  entirely  centered  in  his  business  or  trade, 
while  the  home  is  the  center  of  interest  for  the  wife; 
and  this  permanent  divergence  of  interest  may  easily 
become  a  source  of  misunderstanding.  Each  gets  the 
idea  that  the  other  does  not  sympathize  with  him  or 
appreciate  his  problems,  and  as  a  result  hasty  words 
are  spoken  which  in  turn  tend  to  widen  the  breach 
already  formed. 

In  order  that  the  home  may  not  be  thus  disorgan- 
ized it  is  necessary  that  each  member  of  it  shall  have 
a  clear  conception  of  what  the  home  is :  an  organiza- 
tion with  common  ends  and  purposes  for  whose  reali- 
zation there  must  be  a  division  of  labor  and  a  spirit 
of  cooperation,  mutual  helpfulness,  and  sympathy  on 
the  part  of  all.  These  are  the  characteristics  which 

This  paragraph  follows  the  suggestions  of  Dewey  and  Tufts: 
Ethics,  p.  584,  ff. 


THE   CRITERION   APPLIED:   THE   HOME.  101 

the  socialized  conscience  would  demand  in  each:  an 
intelligent  conception  of  the  common  ends  and  pur- 
poses, prudent  conduct  and  bearing  towards  each 
other,  absolute  justice,  and  a  will  devoted  to  the  best 
interests  of  the  home  as  an  institution  and  to  each 
member  thereof.  Such  are  the  types  of  character  and 
conduct  that  the  moral  law  demands  of  every  member 
of  every  home. 

Indifference. — In  like  manner  the  peculiar  attitude 
of  indifference  which  is  sometimes  taken  by  the  hus- 
band and  father  toward  the  home  is  a  source  of  un- 
happiness  and  misunderstanding  to  the  wife.  The 
home  seems  to  be  regarded  by  him  as  merely  a  place 
in  which  to  eat  and  sleep  and  as  a  place  of  diversion. 
His  real  interest  in  life  is  outside  in  the  business  or 
industrial  world ;  he  thinks  of  home  merely  as  a  place 
of  retreat  to  which  he  may  come  when  the  day's  work 
is  done.  On  the  other  hand,  to  the  woman  who  has 
chosen  home-making  as  her  life  work,  the  whole 
world  centers  in  the  four  walls  of  her  home.  As  a 
result  of  this  situation  each  comes  to  feel  that  the 
other  has  lost  his  interest  in  and  love  for  the  other; 
so  a  further  separation  and  alienation  takes  the  place 
of  a  hearty  cooperation  and  sympathetic  insight. 
The  only  remedy  for  the  situation  is  that  suggested 
in  connection  with  the  other  disturbing  factors 
already  mentioned.  The  virtues  of  the  socialized 
conscience  are  the  only  solvents  for  the  difficulties 
arising  from  these  sources. 


102  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

Economic  dependence  of  wife. — Again,  the  fact 
that  the  wife  frequently  does  not  have  a  purse  of 
her  own  is  a  common  source  of  domestic  unpleasant- 
ness. The  husband's  argument  is  that  it  is  he  who 
earns  the  money,  and  it  is  therefore  his  to  control. 
Accordingly,  he  doles  it  out  here  and  there  as  it  is 
needed,  being  distrustful  of  his  wife's  ability  to 
manage.  On  the  other  hand  the  wife  is  obliged  to 
"ask"  her  husband  for  every  penny  which  she  de- 
sires to  spend,  no  matter  how  legitimate  the  need 
may  be.  The  patience  of  a  self-respecting  woman  is 
soon  worn  threadbare  at  thus  being  constantly  re- 
minded that  she  is  a  beneficiary.  Now  the  remedy 
for  this  situation  is  again  to  be  found  in  a  proper 
conception  of  the  nature  of  the  home.  The  home  is 
an  organization  for  a  system  of  ends  and  pur- 
poses— as  has  been  so  often  suggested;  and  what- 
ever income  there  is,  from  whatever  source,  should 
be  regarded  not  as  the  personal  possession  of  the 
one  who1  receives  it,  but  as  belonging  to  the  home  as 
an  organization.  The  fact  that  the  labor  of  the  wife 
is  as  productive  in  its  way  as  is  the  labor  of  the  hus- 
band must  be  kept  in  mind  while  attempting  to 
solve  these  difficulties.  In  view  of  the  fact  that  so 
large  a  portion  of  the  income  of  every  family  is 
paid  out  for  the  necessities  and  the  comforts  of  the 
home  over  which  the  wife  presides,  it  is  but  fair  and 
just  that  she  should  have  a  large  share  in  the  dis- 
bursements. It  is  her  duty  therefore  to  make  a 
study  of  domestic  economy,  and  to  use  in  the  most 


THE   CRITERION   APPLIED:    THE   HOME.  103 

intelligent  way  the  money  at  her  disposal.  When 
the  wife  has  the  capacity  and  the  disposition  thus 
to  deal  with  the  situation — and  if  she  has  not  the 
capacity,  it  is  probably  due  to  the  fact  that  she  has 
never  been  given  the  opportunity  to  acquire  it — she 
ought  to  have  the  hearty  cooperation  of  the  hus- 
band. We  are  thus  thrown  back  upon  the  virtues 
of  the  socialized  conscience,  the  repetition  of  which 
is  unnecessary  at  this  point,  for  the  satisfactory  and 
permanent  solution  of  this  phase  of  the  problem. 

Lack  of  sympathy  between  parent  and  child. — It 
is  unnecessary  to  speak  at  length  of  the  difficulties 
which  follow  from  a  misunderstanding  between  par- 
ents and  children.  It  is  obvious,  however,  that  un- 
der conditions  of  this  kind  the  home  fails  to  exert 
the  force  it  should  in  the  making  of  character  and 
personality  in  the  children.  In  order  that  there 
shall  be  proper  influence  over  the  latter  it  is  neces- 
sary that  the  parent  take  an  intelligent  and  sym- 
pathetic interest  in  those  things  which  interest  the 
child;  it  is  necessary  that  he  re-live  his  own  life  in 
the  life  of  the  child.  It  is  impossible  that  the  child 
should  take  the  point  of  view  of  the  adult;  hence  if 
parent  and  child  are  to  get  together  at  all  in  the 
solution  of  those  problems  which,  while  meaning 
little  to  the  former,  are  the  most  vital  things  of  life 
to  the  latter,  it  must  be  accomplished  as  the  result 
of  the  conscious  effort  on  the  part  of  the  parent  to 
see  life  and  its  problems  through  the  eyes  of  the 
child,  The  parent  who  is  inconsiderate,  arbitrary, 


104  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

and  unsympathetic  in  his  dealings  with  the  child 
cannot  expect  that  respect,  obedience,  and  confi- 
dence from  the  latter  which  are  the  special  virtues 
of  childhood. 

V.    APPLICATION  OF  CRITERION. 

The  subjective  side. — We  have  seen  in  a  previous 
chapter  that  the  moral  standard  has  two  phases: 
the  objective  and  subjective,  or  custom  and  con- 
science. Both  phases  of  this  standard  must  be  oper- 
ative before  these  problems  pertaining  to  the  home 
are  finally  settled.  The  only  permanent  way  in  which 
moral  law  can  be  enforced  and  custom  made  to 
conform  thereto  is  by  the  enlightenment  of  the  con- 
sciences of  the  members  of  society.  This  involves 
an  intelligent  conception  of  the  home  and  of  the 
ends  and  purposes  which  it  as  an  institution  serves. 
It  means  also  that  an  intelligent  perception  of  all 
the  problems  centering  in  the  home,  the  most  im- 
portant of  which  we  have  been  considering,  must  be 
had.  It  means  the  proper  training  of  the  intellects, 
feelings,  and  wills  of  the  children  in  the  home  and 
school,  with  respect  to  the  home  and  the  problems 
centering  therein.  It  means  the  exercise  of  pru- 
dence, purpose,  justice,  and  good-will  on  the  part 
of  every  member  of  society  with  respect  to  the  home 
and  its  problems.  And  when  the  consciences  of  the 
members  of  society  have  been  thus  enlightened  and 
socialized,  their  opinions  and  attitude  toward  the 
home  will  become  crystallized  in  the  form  of  law 


THE   CEITEBION   APPLIED:    THE   HOME.  105 

and  custom,  which  will  further  control  the  conduct 
of  those  few  who  continue  to  be  refractory  in  attitude 
and  action. 

Eugenics. — The  propogandum  of  eugenics  has 
done  much  recently  to  focus  public  attention  upon 
many  of  the  problems  of  marriage.  When  a  way  is 
devised  whereby  the  fundamental  principles  of  this 
gospel  can  be  applied  in  the  mating  process  without 
interfering  with  the  intellectual  and  emotional  ele- 
ments which  must  of  necessity  be  present  in  the 
highest  type  of  marriage,  a  long  step  will  have  been 
taken  towards  the  elimination  of  many  of  these  most 
perplexing  difficulties.  And  even  if  the  doctrine  is 
never  given  a  legal  status,  the  educative  value  to 
which  its  advocacy  gives  rise  will  itself  lift  the  gen- 
eral level  of  intelligence  concerning  this  phase  of 
life  to  a  much  higher  plane. 

What  we  have  thus  far  said  pertaining  to  the  rem- 
edy of  the  conditions  under  consideration  is  on  the 
side  of  the  enlightenment  of  the  consciences  of  the 
members  of  society — the  subjective  side  of  the  moral 
standard.  A  word  should  now  be  said  with  regard  to 
the  objective  side.  It  is  not  the  purpose  to  go  into  this 
with  any  degree  of  detail,  for  this  is  as  much  a  ques- 
tion of  the  larger  subject  of  sociology  as  it  is  of 
ethics. 

The  objective  side — legislation. — With  regard  to 
the  objective  side  of  the  moral  standard,  the  time  is 
ripe  for  those  members  of  society  who  are  most  in- 
telligent upon  these  problems  and  who  have  in  them- 


106  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

selves  reached  the  higher  levels  of  personality,  to 
inaugurate  an  active  campaign  for  the  better  social 
control  of  these  evils  through  the  agency  of  law. 
It  is  time  for  those  who  are  most  socially  minded 
and  who  see  the  problems  most  clearly  to  demand 
legislation  with  regard  to  the  abuses  we  have  been 
considering,  which  would  formally  express  the  feel- 
ing with  regard  to  the  situation  which  the  intelligent 
majority  has  already  acquired.  It  is  time  that  the 
unformed  opinions  of  the  many  who  are  passively 
interested  in  the  welfare  of  the  home  should  be  for- 
mulated as  law  by  those  who  are  more  actively  and 
energetically  interested  in  social  welfare. 

As  to  just  what  the  program  of  legislation  should 
be  there  may  be  much  difference  of  opinion.  But 
some  of  the  things  which  are  most  sorely  needed 
would  seem  to  be  better  means  of  controlling  the 
issuing  of  marriage  licenses  by  a  more  stringent  en- 
forcement of  existing  laws  and  the  supplementing 
of  these  where  necessary  with  regard  to  the  health 
and  habits  of  the  applicants ;  an  interval  between  the 
application  for  and  the  issuing  of  the  license;  uni- 
form marriage  and  divorce  laws  among  the  states; 
certain  restrictive  measures  regarding  the  re-mar- 
riage of  divorced  persons,  and  the  like. 

With  regard  to  the  specific  problem  of  sex  im- 
morality, the  following  suggestions  seem  rational: 
Society  should  adopt  some  means  of  preventing 
those  from  marrying  who  because  of  sexual  disease 
or  degeneracy  would  be  incapable  of  producing  chil- 


THE   CRITERION   APPLIED:    THE   HOME.  107 

dren  who  would  have  a  fair  chance  in  life.  Just  as 
society  in  certain  states  now  segregates  the  mentally 
diseased  and  abnormal,  and  prevents  them  from 
marrying  and  having  children,  so  also  ought  it  to 
treat  those  who,  through  disease  and  dissipation  of 
their  sexual  powers,  have  forfeited  their  right  to  be- 
come parents,  and  who  for  the  same  reason  could  not 
properly  care  for  and  train  their  children.  Children 
of  such  parentage  are  generally  physically  or  men- 
tally defective,  or  they  are  criminally  inclined,  or 
vicious ;  and  in  any  case  they  are  most  likely  to  be- 
come a  burden  upon  society,  to  say  nothing  of  the 
positively  bad  social  influence  they  have.  Hence  from 
the  mere  utilitarian  point  of  view,  leaving  out  of  ac- 
count the  moral  side  of  the  question,  preventive 
measures  should  be  adopted,  rather  than  to  continue 
the  policy  of  trying  to  deal  with  the  situation  after 
it  has  been  created.  The  latter  method  can  never 
be  more  than  partially  successful  at  best.  The 
question  as  to  how  the  marriage  of  this  class  should 
be  prevented  will  have  to  be  turned  over  to  the 
sociologist  and  the  political  scientist  for  solution. 
The  point  here  made  is  that  it  is  bad  moral  policy 
and  incompatible  with  the  socialized  conscience  that 
conditions  should  remain  as  they  are. 

These  may  not  be  all  the  measures  that  should  be 
adopted  by  society,  but  they  are  at  least  suggestive 
of  the  kind  of  legislation  that  is  sorely  needed  at  the 
present  time  if  society  is  to  cope  successfully  with 
the  growing  problems  pertaining  to  the  home.  And 


108  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

it  is  the  moral  duty  of  every  intelligent  person  to 
throw  his  influence  on  the  side  of  righteousness  in 
an  active  and  militant  way.  Any  one  who  fails  to  do 
this  is  failing  in  his  moral  obligation  in  these  days 
of  social  complexity  when  every  man  is  more  than 
ever  his  brother's  keeper. 

QUESTIONS  AND  TOPICS  FOR  FURTHER  STUDY. 

1.  What  is  the  meaning  of  the  term  'social  pathology'  ? 

2.  Is  there  any  essential  relation  between  the  elimina- 
tion of  these  pathalogical  conditions  and  morality? 

3.  Is  there  any  argument  against  the  statement  that 
divorce  is  to  be  regarded  rather  as  a  symptom  of  social 
disease  than  as  a  disease  itself? 

4.  Is  the  presence  of  divorce  in  society  to  be  regarded 
as  a  sign  of  social  degeneracy  ? 

5.  What  are  the  commonly  reported  causes  of  divorce  ? 

6.  Name  some  of  the  specific  factors  that  enter  into 
the  divorce  problem. 

7.  What  is  the  effect  of  the  differences  between  the 
marriage  and  divorce  laws  of  the  different  states? 

8.  Is  the  legal  profession  in  any  way  responsible  for 
the  present  status  of  divorce  ? 

9.  What  legislation  other  than  that  suggested  in  the 
text  would  you  suggest  in  relation  to  divorce? 

10.  What  is  the  bearing  of  the  moving  picture  show 
upon  marriage?    Upon  sex  immorality? 

11.  Is  there  any  relation  between  the  popular  amuse- 
ments of  the  day  and  laxness  in  sex  morality  ? 

12.  What  should  be  the  nature  of  sex  instruction  in 
the  home  ? 

13.  "Marriage  is  for  a  social  end  as  well  as  or  even 
more  than  an  individual  one."    Is  this  true  ?    If  so,  make 
it  explicit  with  illustrations. 


THE   CRITERION   APPLIED:   THE   HOME.  109 

14.  What  is  your  opinion  of  the  biological  and  psy- 
chological arguments  in  behalf  of  the  'double  standard', 
referred  to  on  pages  93  and  94? 

15.  What  is  the  doctrine  of  eugenics?    What  is  your 
opinion  of  it  ? 

REFERENCES. 

ON  THE  GENERAL  PROBLEMS  OP  MARRIAGE  AND  DIVORCE. 
Dewey  and  Tufts:  Ethics,  Ch.  XXVI. 
Nearing:  Social  Adjustment,  Ch.  VI,  VII,  VIII. 
Eauschenbusch :    Christianity  and  the  Social  Crisis, 
pp.  271-279. 

Koss :  Changing  America,  Ch.  IV. 
Anna  Garlin  Spencer :  Woman's  Share  in  Social  Cul- 
ture, Ch.  IX. 

ON  SEX  IMMORALITY. 

Jane  Addams:  A  New  Conscience  and  an  Ancient 
Evil 

Dealey:  Sociology,  pp.  110-123;  314-327. 

Smith :  Social  Pathology,  p.  273  ff. 

The  Social  Evil  in  Chicago,  Report  of  the  Chicago 
Vice  Commission. 

ON  EUGENICS. 

Burbanks :  The  Training  of  the  Human  Plant. 
Smith :  Social  Pathology,  p.  290  ff. 


CHAPTEB  V. 

THE   CKITERION  APPLIED:    THE   SCHOOL 

AND  OTHER  EDUCATIONAL  AND 

CULTURAL  AGENCIES. 

A.    The  School. 
I.    THE  MOBAL  OBLIGATION  OF  THE  SCHOOL. 

Educational  and  moral  ideals. — Whether  it  is  spe- 
cifically emphasized  or  not,  the  educational  ideal  and 
the  moral  ideal  must  be  one  and  the  same,  at  basis. 
For  example,  "social  efficiency"1  is  the  educational 
ideal  adopted  by  many  at  the  present  time.  By  this 
is  meant  the  ability  to  pull  one's  own  weight  in  the 
struggle  for  life,  not  to  be  a  drag  upon  society,  but 
rather  a  force  for  good.  A  little  reflection  will  make 
it  clear  that  social  efficiency  involves  morality  as  a 
part  of  itself.  For  example,  stealing  is  a  moral 
wrong — even  though  it  be  done  in  the  refined  modern 
way  of  using  a  false  bottom  in  the  measure.  The 
man  who  does  this  is  socially  inefficient;  he  is  by  this 
means  getting  profits  for  himself  at  the  expense  of 
others,  and  is  therefore  a  "drag"  upon  society.  The 
man  who  "bears  false  witness"  by  the  refined 
method  of  publishing  a  dishonest  or  misleading  ad- 
vertisement is  as  socially  inefficient  as  he  is  immoral. 
In  like  manner,  the  breaking  of  any  of  the  rules  of 


:  The  Educative  Procett,  Ch.  III. 

ill 


112  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

the  decalog  means  social  inefficiency.  Hence,  social 
efficiency  involves  morality. 

While  there  has  always  been  substantial  agree- 
ment between  the  educational  and  the  moral  ideals, 
there  is  far  greater  need  today  than  ever  before  that 
the  educational  ideal  shall  be  stated  in  moral  terms. 
While  the  moral  worth  of  human  character  is  no 
greater  now  than  it  has  ever  been,  the  complexities 
of  modern  society  put  a  far  greater  strain  upon  it 
now  than  was  formerly  the  case;  there  is  need  that 
every  individual  shall  be  even  more  firmly  grounded 
in  the  principles  of  morality,  and  that  he  be  able  to 
apply  these  principles  to  present  conditions.  For 
example,  the  age  of  the  steam  engine,  the  printing 
press,  and  electricity  increases  a  thousand-fold  a 
man's  opportunity  of  killing,  stealing,  lying,  and  of 
breaking  all  the  other  fundamental  moral  laws.  And 
if  he  succeeds  in  living  a  clean  life  in  accordance  with 
the  doctrine  of  the  socialized  conscience,  it  is  because 
his  moral  muscle  has  kept  pace  in  its  development 
with  the  increase  in  the  opportunity  for  wrongdoing, 
rather  than  that  the  moral  life  is  an  easier  life  than  it 
was  under  simpler  conditions. 

The  increased  obligation  of  the  school. — There  is  a 
further  reason  why  the  school  has  an  added  obliga- 
tion along  this  line.  With  the  introduction  of  the 
machinery  which  has  caused  the  increase  in  the  com- 
plexity of  life  have  come  the  modern  factory  and  the 
corresponding  industrial  and  commercial  organiza- 
tion. With  the  coming  of  these  the  father,  and  many 


THE   CRITERION   APPLIED:     THE   SCHOOL.  113 

times  the  mother,  of  the  family  have  gone  forth 
from  the  home  into  the  factory,  shop,  or  store  and 
have  given  a  constantly  increasing  amount  of  time  to 
labor  under  these  conditions.  The  result  is  that  the 
children  are  deprived  of  the  companionship  and 
teaching  of  parents,  which  made  the  old-fashioned 
home  such  a  force  for  good  in  the  lives  of  men.  Thus 
while  the  conditions  which  make  the  moral  life  a 
more  difficult  achievement  have  increased,  the  home 
influence  which  formerly  gave  the  needed  moral 
training  has  largely  decreased.  And  the  doubly  in- 
creased burden  of  moral  education  must  be  assumed 
by  the  school,  or  the  moral  fiber  of  the  nation  is  in 
danger  of  becoming  fatally  weakened. 

These  conditions  have  already  so  largely  influ- 
enced the  home  life  of  the  people  that  in  many  cases 
the  home  is  actually  incapable  of  exerting  the  proper 
influence  upon  its  children.  Even  if  such  home  in- 
fluences are  not  positively  degenerative  in  character 
they  are  at  best  only  negatively  good.  There  is  the 
constant  tendency  to  make  the  home  merely  one's 
headquarters,  and  to  seek  companionship  and  amuse- 
ment outside  of  it;  and  this  tendency  is  becoming 
apparent  in  the  children  more  and  more.  Likewise 
the  church  to  a  certain  extent  has  lost  its  grip  upon 
the  members  of  society — the  children  included — so 
that  on  the  average  the  child's  moral  training  is  lim- 
ited almost  entirely  to  that  which  he  gets  in  the 
school. 

In  our  own  educational  history  as  a  nation,  there 


114  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIBNCE. 

has  been  an  unending  variety  of  educational  fads 
and  fancies;  one  school  ideal  after  another  has  held 
the  center  of  the  stage  until  no  one  has  felt  sure  of 
his  ground.  Educators  themselves,  to  say  nothing 
of  the  laymen,  have  labored  under  the  disadvantage 
of  a  confused  educational  theory;  and  it  is  needless 
to  say  that  their  practice  has  shown  a  corresponding 
amount  of  confusion.  The  only  way  by  which  to  re- 
duce the  confusion  and  disorder  to  order  and  system 
is  to  measure  each  and  every  theory  and  bit  of  prac- 
tice by  the  moral  standard,  and  to  reject  everything 
that  has  relatively  little  value  in  terms  of  this.  That 
which  remains  will  easily  arrange  itself  into  an  har- 
monious system.  The  only  possible  educational  end 
which  is  both  unified  and  sufficiently  comprehensive 
is  a  moral  end.  The  school  should  consciously  set 
itself  the  task  of  producing  " personalities"  with 
socialized  consciences,  and  at  the  same  time,  persons 
who  are  * '  efficient, ' '  dynamic  factors  in  the  world. 

This  is  not  the  place  to  discuss  further  the  policy 
of  the  school  as  the  institution  of  education.  But  it 
is  a  fact  that  the  school  is  better  prepared  than  many 
homes  to  give  the  moral  training  which  is  evidently 
so  much  needed.  Even  in  cases  where  the  school  is 
not  actually  better  prepared  to  give  moral  training 
than  the  home,  it  should  supplement  the  training  of 
the  latter  by  its  own  more  systematic  devices.  Hence 
if  the  school  is  to  fulfill  its  mission  in  society  and 
provide  that  knowledge  and  training  which  is  of  most 
worth,  it  must  adopt  as  its  own  the  moral  ideal  under 


THE   CEITBEION   APPLIED:     THE   SCHOOL.  115 

which  as  a  standard  its  means  may  be  systematized 
and  unified. 

II.    EFFICIENCY  AND  MOBALITY. 

The  school  a  socializing  agent. — Just  how  the 
educational  processes  are  to  be  organized  to  this  end 
is  a  problem  in  method  which  the  school  must  work 
out  for  itself;  and  it  may  not  properly  be  discussed  in 
detail  here.  But  there  are  a  few  fundamental  prin- 
ciples which  bear  upon  the  morals  of  the  situation 
and  these  may  be  briefly  mentioned.  In  the  first 
place,  we  have  been  holding  up  the  socialized  con- 
science as  the  moral  ideal.  Now  the  school  is  the 
institution  whose  prime  function  it  is  to  socialize 
the  members  of  each  new  generation.  To  become 
socialized  involves  two  things:  first,  that  the  indi- 
vidual come  into  essential  harmony  with  the  institu- 
tions of  society;  second,  that  he  do  this  by  making 
the  social  inheritance  his  own.  The  factors  through 
which  this  is  brought  about  are  first,  the  curriculum, 
which  represents,  or  ought  to  represent,  the  essen- 
tials of  the  inheritance  referred  to ;  second,  the  give- 
and-take  of  the  social  life  of  both  the  class-room  and 
the  play-ground. 

Based  as  our  civilization  is  so  largely  upon  the 
economic  relation,  it  is  probable  that  the  best  chan- 
nel through  which  to  accomplish  this  socialization 
is  the  vocation.  Since  the  vocation  as  an  institution 
is  so  absolutely  fundamental  to  all  the  other  institu- 
tions, probably  the  best  hold  can  be  gained  upon  the 


116  THE   SOCIALIZED    CONSCIENCE. 

members  of  society  through  this  relation.  It  is  for 
this  reason  that  vocational  education  is  so  strongly 
urged,  and  with  much  justification.  This  would  de- 
mand that  the  curriculum  be  reorganized  with  par- 
ticular reference  to  the  vocation ;  and  that  the  school- 
room be  a  work-shop  in  which  cooperation  would  be 
a  virtue  instead  of  a  vice. 

Economic  Efficiency. — In  the  second  place,  we  may 
consider  the  fact  that  society  demands  efficiency  in 
the  product  of  the  school,  and  justly  so.  If  the  school 
has  any  right  to  exist,  this  right  must  be  denned  in 
terms  of  its  ability  to  develop  in  those  who  come 
under  its  influence  greater  efficiency,  and  a  superior 
mental  equipment  and  social  attitude  with  which  to 
face  the  issues  of  life.  There  are  grave  doubts 
whether  the  school  curriculum  as  now  organized  is 
doing  all  it  ought  to  do  thus  to  fit  for  life.  The  school 
is  necessarily  one  of  the  conservative  forces  of  so- 
ciety. But  it  must  at  the  same  time  remain  in  touch 
with  the  spirit  of  the  times  and  keep  abreast  of  the 
practical  progress  of  civilization;  otherwise  it  will 
cease  to  have  the  influence  over  the  lives  of  men  that 
it  ought  to  have. 

It  is  an  unfortunate  fact  that  the  school  has  in  a 
measure  failed  in  this  very  respect.  The  curriculum 
as  it  now  stands  still  bears  the  marks  of  the  time 
when  education  was  for  the  few  and  when  life  was 
comparatively  simple,  lacking  the  vocational  organi- 
zation with  which  we  are  so  familiar.  While  our 
educational  ideals  in  this  country  profess  to  be  dem- 


THE   CRITEBION   APPLIED:     THE   SCHOOL.  117 

ocratic;  while  we  make  attendance  upon  school  com- 
pulsory in  many  states;  yet  the  curriculum  itself  is 
sadly  lacking  in  social  character  and  in  socializing 
force.  In  the  child's  actual  school  work,  he  has  very 
little  opportunity  to  learn  the  meaning  of  coopera- 
tion in  the  various  phases  of  life,  social,  economic, 
and  political.  Above  everything  else  this  is  the 
characteristic  that  is  needed  in  modern  life.  In  order 
to  accomplish  this  the  curriculum  must  be  socialized. 
It  needs  to  be  put  upon  an  entirely  different  basis, 
so  that  the  great  mass  of  children,  whose  school  life 
must  be  limited  to  seven  or  eight  years  or  less,  may 
receive  at  least  the  elements  of  an  education  which 
will  enable  them  to  take  their  places  as  efficient  mem- 
bers of  a  society  in  which  the  key-note  is  inter-de- 
pendence and  cooperation. 

Moral  value  of  efficiency. — Now  the  moral  signifi- 
cance of  this  is  that  so  long  as  the  school  fails  to 
supply  that  which  society  demands,  the  majority  of 
the  children  will  continue  to  drop  out  upon  the  com- 
pletion of  the  grades  or  before.  This  means  that 
those  who  most  need  the  moral  training  will  continue 
to  be  the  very  ones  who  do  not  receive  it.  It  means 
also  that  so  long  as  the  school  is  thought  of  as  a  thing 
apart,  having  no  direct  connection  with  life,  as  is 
largely  the  case  at  present,  the  training  received 
there  will  be  abstract  and  artificial;  it  means  that 
whatever  moral  training  is  received  is  not  available 
for  actual  situations  as  they  arise  in  daily  life.  True 
social  efficiency  can  be  gained  in  the  school  only  as 


118  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

the  latter  presents  for  solution  problems  such  as 
arise  in  the  larger  social,  industrial,  political,  and 
religious  life  outside.  And  since  social  efficiency 
involves  morality,  moral  fiber  can  be  developed  only 
as  actual  situations  of  these  types  arise  within  the 
school. 

III.     CONSUMPTION  AND  MORALITY. 

Personality  depends  upon  consumption. — But 
there  is  another  phase  of  the  question  which  receives 
less  emphasis  than  it  deserves.  We  have  been  argu- 
ing for  social  efficiency  in  the  product  of  the  school ; 
this  is  right  and  proper  and  deserves  all  the  em- 
phasis it  gets.  But  when  we  speak  of  efficiency  we 
usually  have  reference  to  economic  efficiency:  the 
ability  to  produce.  This  is  absolutely  essential  as  a 
basis  for  the  development  of  personality,  as  we  shall 
attempt  to  show  in  detail  in  the  next  chapter.  But 
the  point  here  to  be  noted  is  that  every  producer  is 
at  the  same  time  a  consumer.  And  the  school  has 
just  as  much  obligation  in  the  matter  of  training  for 
consumption  as  it  has  in  the  matter  of  training  for 
production.  The  question  is,  What  kind  of  news- 
papers, magazines,  books,  amusements,  clothing, 
house  furnishings,  light,  water,  and  street-car  serv- 
ice do  we  demand  and  consume?  Are  the  mem- 
bers of  society  content  with  sensational  newspapers, 
cheap  fiction,  questionable  amusements,  gaudy  and 
freakish  clothing  and  home  decorations,  and  the 
like,  when  other  kinds  are  obtainable?  Obviously 


THE   CRITERION   APPLIED:     THE   SCHOOL.  119 

the  school  ought  to  inculcate  at  some  point  suitable 
and  rational  ideals  and  standards  in  terms  of  which 
to  evaluate  these  things.  This  phase  of  life  shows 
the  value  of  the  so-called  liberal  education  as  op- 
posed to  the  vocational.  The  fact  is  that  the  school 
ought  to  represent  both  in  a  vital  way.  The  prin- 
ciple in  terms  of  which  we  must  test  the  relationship 
between  this  phase  of  education  and  morality  is,  the 
significance  of  these  things  for  character  making. 
On  the  one  hand  the  kind  of  reading,  amusements, 
fashions  of  clothing,  and  house  decorations  one  pre- 
fers is  at  least  an  index  of  character;  and  on  the 
other  hand,  it  has  a  direct  molding  force  upon  char- 
acter. It  ought  to  be  the  business  of  the  school  to 
train  those  who  come  under  its  influence  to  prefer 
and  choose  those  things  which  are  of  greatest  intel- 
lectual and  artistic  value.  In  giving  this  kind  of 
training  the  school  will  at  least  be  laying  the  founda- 
tion for  a  sane  and  healthy  personality. 

IV.    SPECIAL  SCHOOL  DUTIES. 

Habits  and  ideals. — Besides  these  obligations  of  a 
general  sort,  the  school  must  also  assume  the  more 
specific  duty  of  the  moralization  of  its  products. 
Moral  education  in  the  narrower  sense,  however, 
must  be  approached  indirectly.  All  authorities  in- 
sist that  the  didactic  method  is  of  little  or  no  avail 
in  this  phase  of  development.  Moral  character  is 
rather  to  be  regarded  as  the  by-product  of  the  whole 
educational  process.  From  the  developmental  point 


120  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

of  view,  right  habits  and  high  ideals  are  the  essen- 
tial factors  in  morality.  It  is  easy  to  mention  long 
lists  of  desirable  and  necessary  habits  and  ideals; 
for  example:  cleanliness,  order,  self-control,  accu- 
racy, perseverance,  patience,  obedience,  honesty, 
honor,  kindness,  justice,  loyalty,  courage,  patriot- 
ism, love  of  the  beautiful,  etc.,  may  all  be  regarded 
as  being  both  habits  and  ideals,  and  they  are  all 
basic  to  morality.  But  the  difficulty  is  to  secure 
their  establishment  as  habits,  on  the  one  hand,  and 
their  adoption  as  ideals,  on  the  other.  The  law  of 
habit  building  is  "  f ocalization,  plus  drill  in  atten- 
tion;" and  while  the  indirect  method  of  story  tell- 
ing is  invaluable  by  way  of  getting  the  initial  focal- 
ization,  the  point  of  specific  difficulty  is  in  eliciting 
a  sufficient  number  of  repetitions  to  insure  perma- 
nence. This  is  the  point  at  which  the  great  moral 
value  of  the  socialized  curriculum  would  become  ap- 
parent. Moral  character  and  habits  cannot  develop 
unless  actual  moral  situations  are  repeatedly  met 
and  reacted  upon  properly;  and  as  long  as  the  school 
curriculum  remains  so  highly  artificial,  actual  moral 
situations  such  as  arise  in  the  big  world  outside, 
cannot  be  adequately  presented  to  the  pupil.  On  the 
other  hand,  if  the  curriculum  were  more  highly 
vocationalized  and  the  school-room  were  more  like 
the  shop,  the  office,  or  the  store,  the  moral  situations 
that  ordinarily  arise  in  the  larger  world  would  natur- 
ally be  duplicated  in  the  school-room.  This  would 
supply  the  data  of  morality,  and  give  the  teacher 


THE   CRITERION   APPLIED:     THE   SCHOOL.  121 

something  definite  upon  which  to  work.  Until  this 
readjustment  can  be  made  the  moral  training  of  the 
schools,  in  so  far  as  it  depends  upon  habit,  at  least, 
will  doubtless  continue  to  be  fragmentary  and  inad- 
equate. There  is  still  the  possibility,  however,  of 
inculcating  right  ideals,  particularly  during  the 
period  of  adolescence — an  opportunity  which  should 
by  all  means  be  utilized  to  the  fullest  extent.  The 
ideals  and  policies  which  are  gained  during  this 
period  are  most  likely  to  persist  throughout  life  as 
the  common  standards  of  evaluation;  furthermore, 
this  is  the  stage  at  which  the  social  instinct  is  com- 
ing to  its  full  development,  and  it  is  therefore  the 
time  when  the  social  point  of  view  should  be  ac- 
quired as  a  habit;  it  is  the  period  above  all  others 
when  conscience  should  become  socialized,  and  when 
its  special  virtues  should  become  ingrained  in  the 
character  which  is  just  being  crystalized. 

One  other  matter  deserves  specific  mention  in  con- 
nection with  the  subject  of  moralization:  namely, 
the  question  of  proper  sex  instruction.  Ideally,  the 
proper  place  to  handle  this  subject  is  in  the  home; 
but  inasmuch  as  the  children  who  need  this  instruc- 
tion most  as  a  rule  receive  the  least  attention  in  this 
regard,  the  school  must  assume  this  added  obliga- 
tion. While  suitable  courses  of  instruction  have  not 
yet  been  worked  out,  many  thoughtful  educators  are 
giving  the  question  their  best  effort.  And  we  may 
believe  that  if  they  can  secure  the  hearty  coopera- 


122  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

tion  of  all  the  members  of  the  teaching  profession 
the  need  will  soon  be  filled. 

V.    PERSONAL    OBLIGATION. 

Co-operation. — We  have  spoken  thus  far  of  the 
duty  of  the  school  to  the  individual  and  to  society. 
We  should  now  consider  briefly  the  duty  of  the  indi- 
vidual to  the  school.  The  school  has  been  referred 
to  as  one  of  the  agencies  by  which  society  brings  the 
benefits  of  the  spiritual  environment  to  the  indi- 
vidual and  thus  makes  personality  possible  for  him. 
It  was  also  shown  that  each  person  owes  in  return 
for  these  benefits  a  debt  of  obligation  to  society 
through  the  same  channel.  Now  how  may  a  person 
discharge  this  debt?  The  answer  is  again  to  be 
found  in  terms  of  the  socialized  conscience.  It  is  the 
moral  as  well  as  the  social  duty  of  every  one  to  make 
himself  intelligent  upon  the  aims  and  problems  of 
the  school.  He  must  take  a  personal  interest  in 
the  work  of  the  school  and  by  hearty  cooperation 
help  to  make  it  what  it  should  be.  School  authori- 
ties are  always  desirous  of  having  the  intelligent  and 
sympathetic  criticism  of  the  layman.  It  is  through 
this  means  that  they  come  to  know  what  society  de- 
mands of  the  school ;  and  if  those  members  of  society 
who  are  most  socially  minded  and  most  solicitous 
for  the  common  welfare  would  give  school  authori- 
ties the  benefit  of  their  criticisms  and  suggestions, 
the  reorganization  which  is  mentioned  above  could 
be  much  more  speedily  and  satisfactorily  made. 


THE   CRITERION   APPLIED:     THE   SCHOOL.  123 

B.    The  Press. 
I.    THE  PRESS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  AGENT. 

Publicity  and  progress.— The  daily  and  periodical 
publications  of  the  present  day  make  the  press  one 
of  the  greatest  of  all  educational  institutions.  While 
its  avowed  purpose  is  not  to  educate,  as  is  the  case 
with  the  school,  but  to  print  the  news,  yet  the  print- 
ing of  the  news  constitutes  one  of  the  greatest  of  the 
educational  processes,  using  the  term  'education' 
in  its  broadest  sense.  The  press  bears  somewhat  the 
same  relation  to  the  adult  that  the  school  does  to  the 
child ;  it  is  the  means  of  disseminating  knowledge  of 
current  events  to  the  former  as  the  school  curricu- 
lum is  the  means  of  bringing  the  best  of  human  ex- 
perience of  the  past  to  the  latter.  It  would  accord- 
ingly be  difficult  to  overestimate  the  value  of  the 
press  as  an  agency  by  which  the  people  may  be  made 
intelligent  upon  topics  of  current  interest,  the  knowl- 
edge of  which  is  so  essential  to  every  one  as  a  matter 
of  practical  education. 

Ours  is  a  democratic  ideal  of  government,  one  in 
which  all  the  people  shall  have  a  share.  It  attempts 
to  be  a  government  "of  the  people,  by  the  people, 
and  for  the  people. ' '  Now  a  true  democracy  is  pos- 
sible only  when  all  the  people  are  intelligent.  If  the 
government  is  to  be  'of  and  'by*  the  people,  the 
people  must  themselves  be  conversant  with  the  con- 
ditions and  problems  of  government.  And  there  is 
no  other  means  that  possesses  a  tithe  the  power  that 


124  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

the  press  has  in  promoting  public  intelligence  upon 
these  problems.  With  its  great  news-gathering 
facilities,  and  with  the  aid  of  electricity  in  the  com- 
munication of  it,  the  press  can  give  the  world  within 
the  space  of  a  few  hours  every  detail  of  an  important 
event.  In  the  evolution  of  government,  democracy 
must  wait  upon  the  printing  press,  because  without 
a  common  knowledge  democracy  must  give  place  to 
some  unrepresentative  form  of  government,  even  if 
not  to  tyranny. 

The  newspaper  is  also  invaluable  in  the  industrial 
world  as  well  as  in  the  political.  It  makes  possible 
a  common  knowledge  regarding  the  processes  of 
manufacture  and  transportation.  Through  the  press 
knowledge  of  inventions,  methods,  and  materials  is 
carried  from  place  to  place;  and  in  it  there  is  found 
that  easy  exchange  of  ideas  which  is  so  essential  to 
our  modern  industrial  civilization.  Through  it  so- 
ciety is  knit  more  closely  together  than  could  possi- 
bly be  the  case  without  it.  The  newspaper  is  the  uni- 
versal solvent  of  the  information  which  is  necessary 
for  any  concerted  and  intelligent  action  on  the  part 
of  the  members  of  society. 

"Publicity — scientific  investigation  and  public 
discussion — is  indeed  indispensable,  and  its  greatest 
value  is  probably  not  in  the  exhilarating  discharge 
of  righteous  indignation,  but  in  the  positive  eleva- 
tion of  standards,  by  giving  completer  knowledge 
and  showing  the  fruit  of  certain  practices.  A  large 
proportion  of  the  public  will  wish  to  do  the  right 


THE   CBITERION  APPLIED:     THE  SCHOOL.  125 

thing  if  they  can  see  it  clearly,  and  can  have  public 
support,  so  that  right  action  will  not  mean  suicide. ' " 
We  hear  a  great  deal  of  'social  psychology,'  and 
of  the  social  effect  which  the  members  of  society 
have  upon  each  other:  the  power  of  imitation 
and  suggestion,  public  opinion,  and  social  control 
through  discussion.  But  it  is  safe  to  say  that  the 
laws  of  social  psychology  were  comparatively  inop- 
erative before  the  newspaper  made  its  appearance 
with  its  wealth  of  information,  and  offering  as  it 
does  a  channel  for  the  interchange  of  ideas.  Thanks 
to  the  aid  of  the  press,  China  is  not  as  far  distant 
today  as  the  next  county  was  before  the  existence  of 
the  daily  newspaper. 

II.     THE  ETHICAL  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE  PEESS. 

Moral  obligation. — Granting  the  truth  of  these 
facts,  what  is  their  ethical  significance?  In  the  first 
place,  on  the  part  of  the  press  there  is  the  obligation 
to  adhere  faithfully  to  the  truth.  The  press  must 
recognize  its  social  obligation  and  must  constantly 
hold  in  mind  the  fact  that  it  is  the  molder  of  public 
opinion.  This  is  no  mean  obligation;  for,  as  was 
said  a  moment  ago,  the  welfare  of  society  depends 
in  great  degree  upon  its  intelligence.  Further,  that 
which  the  paper  carries  as  ' news'  is  as  great  a  fac- 
tor as,  if  not  greater  than,  the  policy  which  is  main- 
tained in  the  editorial  columns.  For  example,  no 


•Dewey  and  Tufts :  Ethics,  p.  520. 


126  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

one  would  doubt  the  potency  of  Jingoism  and  ''yel- 
low journalism"  to  fire  the  passions  of  a  nation  and 
to  plunge  it  into  an  irrational  course  of  action. 

Every  great  social  institution  of  this  kind  must 
have  a  little  of  the  missionary  spirit  in  its  work  if 
it  would  accomplish  for  society  all  that  it  is  capable 
of  accomplishing.  Naturally  from  the  beginning  the 
press  has  been  mainly  a  commerical  undertaking; 
those  who  are  engaged  in  the  business  are  in  it 
largely  for  the  financial  gain.  But  let  them  not  for- 
get the  social  obligation  involved.  For  while  the 
acts  of  all  the  members  of  society  have  social  as  well 
as  individual  consequences,  this  is  particularly  true 
of  the  conduct  and  policy  of  the  newspaper  man.  In 
the  nature  of  the  case  the  product  of  his  labor  must 
come  before  the  scrutiny  of  society.  Of  course  this 
must  be  of  such  a  nature  as  to  sell;  but  it  must  also 
be  of  such  a  nature  as  to  make  those  whom  it  in- 
fluences more  socially  efficient  and  more  socially 
minded,  if  the  writer  is  to  realize  the  highest  moral 
value  in  his  work.  To  be  socially  efficient — and 
therefore  moral — the  newspaper  man  must  not  only 
make  for  himself  a  competency  and  thus  pull  his  own 
weight  in  society,  but  he  must  be  careful  that  in  ac- 
complishing this  end  he  does  not  cause  other  mem- 
bers of  society  to  stumble  and  fall. 

Many  newspapers,  particularly  those  of  the  "yel- 
low ' '  or  sensational  variety,  have  sacrificed  the  truth 
to  financial  gain.  Their  maxim  is:  print  what  the 
public  wants;  and  in  following  out  this  maxim,  fact 


THE    CRITERION    APPLIED:     THE   SCHOOL.  127 

gives  place  to  fancy  and  truth  is  often  distorted 
beyond  all  recognition.  Now  the  first  duty  of  the 
newspaper  is  to  print  the  truth.  If  the  public  does 
not  want  the  truth,  the  reason  is  at  least  in  part  that 
its  mental  appetite  has  become  so  jaded  with  the  sen- 
sational that  the  plain  unvarnished  truth  seems  un- 
interesting. In  this  case  the  clear  duty  of  the  press 
is  to  go  to  work  systematically  to  re-educate  the 
public,  to  re-create  a  demand  for  facts  and  to  de- 
velop in  its  readers  a  wholesome  interest  in  things 
of  real  social  import,  in  place  of  the  morbid  curiosity 
which  has  been  fostered  by  the  commercialized  ' '  yel- 
low" press.  One  other  point  in  this  connection:  the 
press  must  free  itself  absolutely  from  graft.  It  must 
not  allow  itself  to  be  dictated  to  by  the  so-called 
"big  interests."  It  must  be  absolutely  fearless  and 
withhold  nothing  from  the  public  which  the  public 
ought  to  know.  This  is  setting  a  high  ideal  and  one 
which  may  seem  to  the  newspaper  man  impractica- 
ble; but  it  is  none  the  less  the  ideal  towards  which 
the  press  should  be  moving. 

Lack  of  proportion. — There  is  another  line  of  criti- 
cism to  which  the  press  is  open,  one  that  is  perhaps 
even  more  glaring  than  its  tendency  towards  mis- 
representation: namely,  a  certain  lack  of  proportion. 
By  this  is  meant  the  practice  of  featuring  unimport- 
ant and  purely  temporal  items.  Granted  that  it  is 
not  always  easy  to  single  out  at  the  moment  those 
events  which  are  of  real  value,  because  time  alone 


128  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

can  tell  what  are  of  lasting  importance;  yet  the  na- 
tions are  making  history  every  day,  and  it  ought  to 
be  a  part  of  the  training  of  every  newspaper  man  to 
be  able  to  sense  those  things  which  are  of  permanent 
worth  and  to  give  them  their  proper  emphasis.  For 
example,  on  the  first  page  in  flaunting  headlines  will 
be  featured  the  write-up  of  some  crime  or  of  the 
doings  of  some  society  leader  in  a  freakish  moment, 
while  over  on  the  third  page  with  scarcely  a  head- 
line, and  in  fine  print,  will  be  buried  the  report  of  a 
world's  congress  of  peace  or  of  science  or  of  religion. 
The  unconscious  influence  of  this  kind  of  thing  is 
worse  than  if  the  latter  report  were  omitted  alto- 
gether, because  it  suggests  that  while  the  event  has 
some  news  value,  it  is  of  very  little  significance  com- 
pared with  the  other.  This  gives  the  superficial 
reader  who  is  incapable  of  evaluating  things  for  him- 
self a  totally  wrong  perspective  and  a  distorted  view 
of  life.  The  materialistic  tendency  of  a  materialistic 
age  is  thus  further  developed. 

Personal  duty. — While  these  duties  of  printing  the 
truth  and  of  maintaining  a  proper  perspective  rest 
upon  the  press,  the  other  members  of  society  also 
have  their  share  in  the  making  of  a  proper  press. 
Only  as  the  members  of  society  cooperate  with  the 
press  can  the  ideal  thus  outlined  be  approximated. 
This  they  can  do  in  two  ways.  First,  they  can  as- 
sume their  rightful  share  in  helping  the  representa- 
tives of  the  press  to  secure  the  news.  It  is  not  un- 


THE   CBITEEION   APPLIED:     THE   SCHOOL.  129 

common  for  one  to  regard  the  inquiries  of  the  re- 
porter as  mere  impertinencies  and  to  accord  him 
scant  respect.  In  the  second  place,  each  member 
of  society  should  give  his  patronage  to  the  paper 
which  most  nearly  fulfills  the  conditions  that  moral- 
ity imposes  upon  it.  Not  only  can  he  give  his  sanction 
through  his  patronage,  but  he  can  make  known  his 
approval  and  his  disapproval  both  directly  and  indi- 
rectly, and  thus  assist  in  the  general  transformation 
of  the  ideals  and  practices  of  the  press.  If  the  mo- 
tive back  of  the  press  is  the  commercial  desire  to 
offer  to  the  public  something  which  is  desired  by  it, 
then  the  public  through  its  demand  can  determine 
what  the  nature  of  the  supply  shall  be.  Such,  at 
least,  is  the  law  governing  the  manufacture  and  sale 
of  other  commodities. 

With  regard  to  the  moral  significance  of  the  press 
the  facts  mentioned  above  lead  to  this  conclusion: 
the  press  has  a  profound  influence  upon  the  making 
of  personality.  If  personality  consists  in  the  rational 
ordering  of  life  in  terms  of  a  set  of  policies,  stand- 
ards, and  ideals,  then  its  moral  significance  is  indis- 
putable. If  the  press  is  indeed  the  strong  educa- 
tional factor  that  it  seems  to  be;  if  it  is  the  great  fac- 
tor in  the  formation  of  public  opinion  which  it  claims 
to  be;  there  can  be  no  doubt  about  its  potency  as  a 
means  of  crystallizing  men's  concepts  of  duty,  jus- 
tice, righteousness,  honor,  in  short,  of  all  the  moral 
virtues  and  ideals  of  character  and  conduct. 


130  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

C.    The  Stage. 
I.     THE  STAGE  A  PERMANENT  INSTITUTION. 

Psychological  basis  of  the  drama. — The  stage  may 
be  regarded  as  one  of  the  permanent  institutions  of 
society;  and  while  not  one  of  the  most  fundamental 
ones,  it  at  least  exercises  a  profound  influence  upon 
the  attitude  and  ideals  of  society.  Notwithstanding 
the  fact  that  the  church  and  other  agencies  have 
from  time  to  time  exerted  their  utmost  effort  to  do 
away  with  the  stage,  it  has  continued  to  grow  and 
make  a  place  for  itself;  it  seems  to  answer  a  universal 
need  in  social  life.  No  doubt  there  has  been  and  still 
is  considerable  ground  for  the  charge  made  by  the 
church  that  the  stage  is  the  source  of  much  of  the 
evil  that  besets  the  members  of  society  and  that  its 
influence  is  undesirable.  But  we  had  as  well  face  the 
fact  that  the  stage  has  made  a  permanent  place  for 
itself  as  one  of  our  social  institutions,  and  proceed 
to  inquire  into  the  moral  significance  of  the  fact. 
We  may  as  well  recognize  that  it  is  no  longer  profit- 
able to  protest  against  the  stage  itself;  rather,  on  the 
contrary,  it  is  our  duty  to  study  to  see  how  the  stage 
may  be  turned  to  cultural  and  moral  account ;  to  dis- 
cover how  it  may  be  made  a  force  for  good  instead  of 
evil,  as  is  so  frequently  the  case  now. 

The  reason  why  the  stage  is  so  firmly  grounded  in 
society  is  the  fact  that  its  appeal  is  made  to  the  feel- 
ing side  of  life  rather  than  to  the  intellectual.  From 
the  point  of  view  of  psychology,  the  feelings  are 


THE   CBITEBION   APPLIED:     THE   SCHOOL.  131 

among  the  most  deep-seated  and  primal  of  mental 
processes.  There  are  those  who  argue  that  they  are 
even  more  fundamental  than  either  the  cognitive  or 
volitional  functions.  Be  that  as  it  may,  it  is  a  fact 
that  the  feelings  represent  life  in  one  of  its  most  fun- 
damental aspects;  and  any  stimulus  which  appeals 
to  them  is* by  that  very  fact  an  exceedingly  strong 
one.  Now  the  stage  furnishes  an  adequate,  if  arti- 
ficial, outlet  for  affective  experience.  Life  in  the 
normal  round  of  duties  becomes  colorless,  indiffer- 
ent, and  unaffective;  and  the  stage  provides  a  stimu- 
lus for  the  otherwise  unexperienced  feelings.  Herein 
it  answers  a  deep  and  compelling  human  need.  We 
may  rest  assured  then  that  whatever  may  be  the 
proper  method  of  dealing  with  the  stage,  it  is  not  to 
attempt  to  abolish  it. 

Now  it  is  this  fact  that  the  stage  has  its  founda- 
tion in  the  affective  side  of  consciousness  that  makes 
of  it  such  a  tremendous  force  for  either  good  or  evil 
in  society.  That  which  moves  one  affectively  is  most 
potent  in  forming  one's  ideas,  ideals,  and  impulses; 
it  prompts  to  acts  and  these  in  turn  crystallize  into 
character;  to  see  portrayed  on  the  stage  an  honor- 
able or  a  patriotic  act,  one  which  arouses  strong  feel- 
ing in  the  spectator,  will  do  more  to  establish  in  him 
the  ideals  of  honor  and  patriotism  than  any  amount 
of  admonition  or  instruction.  In  the  same  manner 
ideas  about  graft  or  notions  of  crime  may  be  instilled 
with  equal  ease  and  certainty. 


132  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

Moral  potentiality  of  the  stage. — We  know  some- 
thing of  the  possibilities  of  the  stage  at  its  best ;  and 
we  do  not  need  to  be  told  what  it  is  at  its  worst. 
Psychologists  commonly  classify  the  feelings  into 
the  sentiments  and  the  emotions.  Now  the  drama 
may  be  founded  upon  either  group;  and  its  moral 
value  is  largely  determined  by  the  group  upon  which 
it  is  founded.  When  based  upon  the  former  and 
made  to  portray  a  noble  love,  sympathy,  altruism, 
sacrifice,  honor,  honesty,  benevolence,  patriotism, 
and  the  other  finer  phases  of  life,  the  stage  may  be  of 
inestimable  value  in  the  formation  of  worthy  ideals 
of  character  and  conduct,  and  may  be  of  great 
artistic  and  cultural  value  as  well.  But  on  the  other 
hand,  when  the  drama  is  founded  upon  the  instinc- 
tive emotions  of  jealousy,  cupidity,  revenge,  sensual- 
ity, and  the  like,  it  is  a  source  of  incalculable  harm, 
while  at  the  same  time  it  has  no  cultural  value  and  is 
of  doubtful  artistic  value.  It  is  an  acknowledged 
fact  that  the  cheap  melodrama,  and  its  companion 
the  cheap  novel,  are  the  sources  of  a  great  amount 
of  crime,  particularly  among  the  young.  And  if  it 
is  the  source  of  so  much  crime,  of  how  much  more 
immorality  which  is  not  grave  enough  to  be  called 
crime  may  it  be  the  source  ? 

It  would  be  interesting  as  well  as  instructive,  at 
this  point,  to  go  into  the  question  as  to  what  dramatic 
art  is.  Is  it  the  purpose  of  the  drama  to  portray  life 
as  it  is,  or  as  it  ought  to  be;  to  represent  things  as 
they  actually  are,  or  to  present  the  ideal  phase  of 


THE   CBITEBION   APPLIED:     THE   SCHOOL.  133 

life?  But  it  would  be  somewhat  beside  our  purpose 
here  to  attempt  to  give  a  criticism  of  art;  and  be- 
sides, the  writer  could  speak  only  as  a  layman,  and 
without  authority.  But  judged  from  the  point  of 
view  of  the  moralist,  it  would  seem  that  true  art 
should  be  creative  and  not  merely  representative, 
especially  in  the  realm  of  the  art  of  human  nature, 
the  drama.  It  is  a  source  of  satisfaction  to  note  that 
there  is  a  growing  sentiment  in  this  direction.  One 
of  our  great  critics  at  the  present  time  takes  the 
point  of  view  just  mentioned  and  maintains  that  the 
drama,  while  furnishing  recreation,  ought  at  the 
same  time  to  create  and  stimulate  ideals. 

II.    MORAL  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE  STAGE,  INDIVIDUAL 

SOCIAL. 


Attitude  of  manager.  —  "What  now  is  the  moral  sig- 
nificance of  these  facts;  what  is  the  relation  of  the 
stage  to  personality  and  character?  What  should  be 
the  attitude  of  the  manager  of  the  theater  to  the 
question,  and  what  the  attitude  of  society  as  a  whole 
and  of  its  individual  members  ? 

It  has  already  been  shown  how  the  stage  may  mold 
character  through  ideas,  emotion,  suggestion,  and 
imitation;  how  public  sentiment  and  national  ideals 
may  be  shaped.  The  truth  is  that  the  stage,  like  the 
newspaper,  has  been  commercialized  to  such  an  ex- 
tent that  the  question  as  to  its  moral  significance  is 
not  taken  into  account  by  those  who  have  it  in 
charge.  Its  widespread  social  influence  is  lost  sight 


134  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

of  in  the  attempt  to  produce  something  that  will 
draw  the  crowds.  "The  fact  is  that  the  manager 
aims  to  produce,  not  the  best  play  the  public  will 
take,  but  the  play,  whatever  its  quality,  that  seems 
most  likely  to  win  instant  and  wide  publicity.  .  . 
What  counts  is  not  the  quality  of  the  play,  but  the 
fact  that  it  succeeds. ' '  Now  the  manager  who  looks 
upon  the  stage  merely  as  a  business  proposition  in 
this  way  is  failing  to  live  up  to  the  moral  standard 
as  we  have  outlined  it ;  he  shows  himself  to  be  lack- 
ing in  a  socialized  conscience.  The  moral  law  is  as 
binding  upon  the  manager  of  the  theater  as  it  is  upon 
any  other  member  of  society;  and  he  must  be  made 
to  see  that  the  actions  which  he  performs  under  the 
name  of  business  have  a  great  bearing  both  directly 
and  indirectly  upon  the  making  of  human  character. 
He  must  feel  it  his  duty  to  help  educate  public  taste 
and  demand  along  this  line,  so  that  it  will  willingly 
receive  a  higher  and  higher  class  of  plays.  The 
manager  argues  that  his  method  of  gaining  a  liveli- 
hood is  a  precarious  one,  and  that  he  must  necessar- 
ily produce  what  the  people  want  or  go  out  of  busi- 
ness. But  he  must  be  made  to  see  that  the  true  and 
ultimate  success  of  the  stage  depends  upon  making 
it  morally  good;  that  nothing  which  is  founded  upon 
wrong  can  long  continue. 

Society  also  responsible. — On  the  other  hand, 
society  is  equally  to  blame  for  the  undesirable  influ- 
ence of  the  stage.  If,  as  the  result  of  notions  gained 
from  the  theater  or  moving  picture  show,  the  imagi- 


THE   CBITEKION   APPLIED:     THE   SCHOOL.  135 

nation  and  daring  of  some  young  man  are  stirred  to 
the  point  where  he  goes  out  and  commits  theft  or 
murder,  each  one  shares  the  guilt  of  him  whom  so- 
ciety brands  as  the  thief,  and  the  blood  of  the  murder 
is  upon  the  hand  of  every  member  of  the  commu- 
nity. What  is  needed  is  the  intelligent  cooperation 
on  the  part  of  the  members  of  society.  Some  organ- 
ized form  of  censorship  beyond  that  which  now 
exists  is  demanded.  Let  the  church,  for  example, 
which  has  in  the  past  been  indifferent  if  not  actively 
hostile  to  the  stage,  now  perfect  some  organization 
within  itself  by  which  it  may  combat  the  evil  influ- 
ences of  the  stage.  Let  it  perfect  a  federation  of 
organizations  similar  to  the  Anti-Saloon  League,  and 
go  to  work  systematically  to  clean  up  the  stage;  and 
the  good  results  will  not  for  a  moment  be  in  doubt. 
Such  a  course  would  react  to  the  benefit  of  both  the 
stage  and  the  church,  as  social  institutions,  as  well 
as  to  the  good  of  the  individual  and  society.  Or  let 
the  energy  which  is  sometimes  wasted  in  certain 
woman's  clubs  be  turned  to  good  account  in  this 
direction,  in  passing  judgment  upon  the  plays  which 
are  billed  for  the  local  theater,  and  thus  forcing 
managers  to  secure  the  best  plays  possible.  In  this 
connection  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  a  beginning 
is  being  made  in  this  type  of  activity  through  the 
efforts  of  the  National  Drama  League.  As  a  result 
of  this  and  similar  enterprises  it  is  not  too  much  to 
expect  that  the  objectionable  features  of  the  stage, 


136  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

both  locally  and  generally,  will  eventually  be  eradi- 
cated. 

Now  what  should  be  the  attitude  of  the  individual 
toward  the  stage?  The  answer  to  this  question  must 
be  found  in  terms  of  the  moral  principles  already 
developed.  One's  conduct  with  reference  to  the  stage 
must  be  governed  by  the  dictates  of  the  socialized 
conscience.  Explicitly  then,  it  is  one's  moral  duty 
to  make  oneself  intelligent  upon  the  nature  of  a  play 
to  which  it  is  proposed  to  go;  and  to  lend  one's 
patronage  only  to  those  which  are  best.  Also  one 
must  exercise  prudence  as  well  as  intelligence  inas- 
much as  one's  influence  upon  others  must  always  be 
taken  into  account.  Further,  the  frequency  of  at- 
tendance must  be  made  a  matter  of  consideration; 
the  moral  end  would  be  thwarted  by  allowing  oneself 
to  become  the  slave  of  the  theater  habit. 

The  moving  picture  show. — The  matter  of  the 
moving  picture  show  and  vaudeville  needs  especially 
to  be  thoroughly  considered.  These  types  of  theater 
no  doubt  have  their  legitimate  place  in  the  social 
world.  But  because  of  their  cheapness  and  the  cor- 
respondingly large  number  who  come  under  their 
influence  they  are  especially  strong  in  their  effect 
upon  the  notions  and  ideals  of  society,  particularly 
of  the  young.  Amusement  has  a  legitimate  place  in 
the  moral  life,  and  there  are  a  great  many  harmless 
and  innocent  moving  picture  films  and  vaudeville 
acts  which  furnish  wholesome  amusement,  when  not 
indulged  in  to  excess.  But  it  is  a  difficult  matter  to 


THE   CRITERION   APPLIED:     THE   SCHOOL.  137 

draw  the  line  between  the  harmless  and  the  harmful; 
it  requires  the  intelligent  and  thoughtful  considera- 
tion of  those  members  of  society  who  have  the  social 
welfare  at  heart,  whether  they  are  the  paid  repre- 
sentatives of  the  public  or  private  individuals.  This 
phase  of  the  theatrical  world  needs  even  a  closer 
supervision  than  the  "  legitimate"  drama,  just  be- 
cause of  the  cheapness  and  frequency  of  the  per- 
formances, and  because  of  the  correspondingly  large 
number  of  individuals  who  come  under  its  influence. 

D.    Amusements. 

I.    AMUSEMENTS  AND  PERSONALITY. 

Leisure  and  character. — A  considerable  fraction 
of  the  waking  life  of  every  one  is  spent — and  rightly 
so — in  some  form  of  amusement  or  pleasure-seeking. 
The  kinds  of  amusement  which  are  available  to  the 
individual  will  determine  in  large  measure  what  the 
activities  of  his  leisure  hours  shall  be  and  conse- 
quently the  nature  of  his  character.  The  fact  that 
the  disposition  of  one's  leisure  time  so  largely  deter- 
mines character  needs  special  emphasis  at  this  point. 
For  the  most  part  the  vocational  activities  of  a  man 
are  socially  beneficial,  and  seldom  morally  wrong. 
So  this  kind  of  activity  on  the  whole  exercises  a  ben- 
eficent influence  upon  character.  But  during  their 
leisure  hours  men  are  out  from  under  the  authority 
of  the  industrial  institutions  and  their  acts  are  spon- 
taneous and  impulsive.  On  the  one  hand  they  are 


138  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

the  direct  outgrowth  of  the  inner  thoughts  and  feel- 
ings; on  the  other  hand,  they  determine  in  large 
measure  the  habits  and  point  of  view  of  life. 

The  moral  significance  of  this  is  at  once  seen.  Not 
all  amusements  are  of  a  social  nature,  but  there  have 
come  into  being  in  the  last  few  years  a  great  number 
of  organized  forms;  there  is  the  theater  in  all  of  its 
forms,  the  sports,  the  pleasure  resorts,  the  dance- 
hall,  the  saloon  and  its  adjuncts.  All  of  these  have 
vast  amounts  of  capital  and  superior  organization 
back  of  them.  The  business  of  these  organizations 
is  to  amuse  the  people,  and  they  go  about  it  with  little 
or  no  regard  to  the  moral  value  of  the  wares  they 
offer. 

Moral  criterion  applied. — Granting  that  amuse- 
ment is  necessary  to  a  full  and  complete  moral  life, 
the  question  arises,  what  kinds  of  amusements  are 
legitimate  and  what  are  not.  In  answering  the  ques- 
tion we  shall  have  to  refer  again  to  the  moral  prin- 
ciple already  developed.  In  a  word,  the  answer  is 
that  any  amusement  is  of  value  morally  which  makes 
for  greater  length  and  breadth  of  life  or  which  con- 
tributes some  element  of  growth  to  personality  and 
character.  It  is  not  the  purpose  here  to  take  up  the 
various  kinds  one  by  one  and  try  to  say  which  are 
legitimate  and  which  are  not,  but  rather  to  empha- 
size the  general  principle  underlying  the  subject, 
with  the  hope  that  it  may  prove  helpful  to  the  indi- 
vidual in  determining  for  himself  what  things  are 
right  and  what  wrong. 


THE   CBITEBION   APPLIED:     THE   SCHOOL.  139 

Personality  as  defined  consists  in  the  subjecting 
of  impulse  to  reason,  and  in  organizing  action  for  the 
sake  of  remote  ends.  The  field  of  amusement  offers 
a  great  opportunity  for  the  discretionary  power  of 
reason  inasmuch  as  amusement  is  by  nature  chiefly 
impulsive  in  character.  The  moral  difficulty  in  the 
situation  is  that  the  individual  frequently  does  not 
desire  to  know  whether  there  is  anything  wrong 
with  his  pleasure-seeking,  and  he  accordingly  refuses 
to  face  the  situation  squarely.  There  is  only  one 
name  for  this  attitude,  and  that  is — dishonesty.  The 
moral  law  demands  that  the  individual  face  the  ques- 
tion of  amusement  squarely  and  honestly  and  intelli- 
gently, and  that  he  make  the  results  of  an  unpreju- 
diced judgment  the  fixed  policy  of  his  life.  Thus  it 
will  first  become  a  matter  of  rational  policy  and 
finally  of  habit,  that  certain  amusements  may  not  be 
indulged  in  under  any  conditions,  because  on  the 
whole  they  do  not  make  for  personality  and  charac- 
ter. The  " personal  liberty"  argument  has  doubt- 
less been  pressed  into  service  as  frequently  in  sup- 
port of  some  questionable  amusement,  when  desire 
and  impulse  are  on  its  side,  as  it  has  been  by  the 
liquor  interests ;  and  it  is  as  great  a  fallacy  in  the  one 
case  as  in  the  other. 

On  the  other  hand  there  will  be  found  a  sufficient 
number  of  amusements  which  provide  a  high  degree 
of  entertainment  which  are  physically,  mentally,  and 
morally  stimulating  and  valuable.  These  are  the 
things  in  which  one  may  legitimately  indulge  to  a 


140  THE    SOCIALIZED    CONSCIENCE. 

temperate  degree.  It  is  becoming  somewhat  trite  to 
say  that  the  virtues  of  the  socialized  conscience  must 
be  operative  in  all  situations  which  are  moral.  And 
yet  this  is  exactly  what  is  required  in  all  cases,  this 
being  no  exception. 

Social  control. — So  much  for  the  attitude  of  the 
individual  to  the  question  of  amusement.  But  most 
of  the  amusements  are  of  a  social  nature,  and  are 
promoted  by  social  organizations.  It  follows  there- 
fore that  if  the  social  environment  is  to  be  of  such  a 
nature  as  to  be  helpful  rather  than  a  hindrance  to  the 
individual  in  his  attempt  to  choose  wisely  and  act 
prudently,  society  must  act  as  a  whole  upon  the  mat- 
ter of  regulating  those  amusements  which  are  social 
in  character.  Briefly,  it  may  be  pointed  out  that  this 
is  another  situation  in  which  the  same  kind  of  super- 
vision and  censorship  is  needed  as  in  the  case  of  the 
stage.  Not  only  should  society  suppress  those  forms 
of  amusement  which  are  not  in  accordance  with  the 
moral  law,  but  it  should  make  adequate  provision 
for  the  wholesome  amusement  of  those  who  are  not 
in  a  position  to  secure  it  otherwise.  Every  member 
of  society  should  interest  himself  in  the  problem  and 
make  himself  intelligent  upon  it.  Nothing  short  of 
a  widespread  interest  will  effect  the  change  needed. 

Committees  or  commissions,  either  official  or  in- 
dependent, whose  social  duty  it  would  be  to  give  the 
matter  particular  study  and  to  serve  as  the  represen- 
tatives of  society  in  effecting  the  proper  adjustment 
along  this  line  might  well  be  appointed.  This  is  a 


THE   CBITEBION   APPLIED:     THE  SCHOOL.  141 

day  of  specialization;  and  while  every  member  of 
society  should  have  a  deep  concern  in  the  public  wel- 
fare and  a  vital  interest  in  any  and  all  movements 
which  look  to  the  betterment  of  social  conditions, 
yet  the  most  good  can  be  accomplished  with  the  least 
waste  of  time  and  energy  if  the  different  members  of 
society  would  each  select  some  one  line  of  activity 
and  cooperate  in  an  organized  fashion  with  all  others 
who  are  specially  interested  in  the  same  line.  The 
work  of  social  progress  would  thus  move  with  pre- 
cision and  speed. 

This  duty  of  cooperation  in  cultural,  moral,  and 
religious  matters  is  one  which  we  have  not  suffi- 
ciently learned  as  yet.  The  sooner  we  incorporate 
into  our  moral  and  religious  activities  something  of 
the  method  which  has  made  the  present  age  supreme 
in  a  commercial  way — cooperation  and  combina- 
tion— the  sooner  shall  we  bring  the  time  to  pass 
when  all  men  will  be  good  neighbors  and  when  the 
means  of  the  moral  life  will  be  equally  within  the 
reach  of  all. 

QUESTIONS  AND  TOPICS  FOR  FURTHER  STUDY. 

THE  SCHOOL. 

1.  Make  a  statement  of  the  historical  aims  of  educa- 
tion.   Do  they  or  do  they  not  involve  morality? 

2.  What  is  implied  by  the  'socialization  of  the  child'  ? 
Make  a  list  of  all  of  the  forces  which  contribute  to  this 
end. 

3.  What  is  the  relation  of  bodily  health  to  morality? 


142  0?HE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

What  are  the  specific  duties  of  the  school  in  this  connec- 
tion? 

4.  Show  why  economic  efficiency  is  necessary   as  a 
basis  for  the  highest  type  of  morality. 

5.  Explain  what  a  socialized  curriculum  would  be  by 
reference  to  some  one  subject,  for  example,  history  or 
arithmetic. 

6.  Why  is  it  that  the  vocation  probably  presents  the 
best  approach  to  the  socialization  of  the  curriculum  ? 

7.  What  should  be  the  criterion  of  the  socialization  of 
the  curriculum  ? 

8.  To  what  extent  is  the  school  responsible  for  the 
pathological  conditions  of  society,   such  as   crime  and 
pauperism  ? 

9.  What  are  the  mental  virtues  of  the  pupil  ?    Do  these 
bear  in  any  way  upon  his  moral  character  ? 

10.  Why   cannot   morality  be  taught   by   the  direct 
method. 

11.  What  is  your  attitude  to  the  question  of  sex  in- 
struction in  the  schools? 

THE  PRESS. 

12.  What  are  the  evils  resulting  from  a  paper  owned 
and  operated  by  a  capitalist  or  capitalistic  corporation  ? 

13.  What  is  "doctored  news"  ?    Is  this  a  common  prac- 
tice?   Does  this  affect  the  morals  of  the  community  in 
any  way? 

14.  Find  specific  instances  of  the  lack  of  proportion 
spoken  of  in  the  text. 

15.  What  advantages  would  an  endowed  press  have? 
Would  there  be  any  disadvantages  in  this? 

THE  STAGE  AND  AMUSEMENTS. 

16.  "The  use  of  a  nation's  leisure  is  the  test  of  its  civ- 
ilization."    (Mackaye:   The  Civic  Theater,  p.  30).    What 
is  your  opinion  of  this  statement  ? 


THE   CBITERION   APPLIED:     THE  SCHOOL.  143 

17.  What  are  the  possibilities  in  the  way  of  using  the 
school  as  a  social  center  for  amusement  purposes? 

18.  Outline    the    program    of    the    National    Drama 
League.     Is  this  a  practical  approach  to  the  problem, 
from  the  moral  point  of  view? 

19.  What  would  be  the  effect  upon  the  stage  itself  of 
carrying  out  the  Drama  League's  program? 

20.  What  is  the  plan  for  the  Civic  Theater?    What 
would  be  the  probable  moral  value  of  this  enterprise  ? 

21.  Make  a  list  of  all  the  places  of  amusement  in  your 
community.    What  is  the  moral  influence  of  each  of  these? 

REFERENCES. 

ON  THE  MORAL  RESPONSIBILITY  OP  THE  SCHOOL. 

Chamberlain :  Standards  in  Education,  Ch.  V. 

Gillette :  Vocational  Education,  Ch.  Ill ;  p.  235  ff. 

MacCunn :  The  Making  of  Character,  pp.  109-112 ;  Pt. 
II,  Ch.  X. 

Nearing:  Social  Adjustment,  Ch.  III. 

Sneath  and  Hodges:  Moral  Training  in  the  School 
and  Home. 

ON  THE  OBLIGATION  OP  THE  PRESS. 

Rauschenbusch :  Christianizing  the  Social  Order,  pp. 
284-286. 

Ross :  Changing  America,  Ch.  VII. 

ON  THE  STAGE  AND  AMUSEMENTS. 

Jane  Addams:  The  Spirit  of  Youth  and  the  City 
Streets. 

Mackaye :  The  Civic  Theater. 

Rauschenbusch :  Christianizing  the  Social  Order,  pp. 
440-442. 


CHAPTBE  VI. 
THE  CEITEBION  APPLIED:  THE  VOCATION. 

I.    ECONOMIC  ORGANIZATION  AND  PERSONALITY. 

The  vocation. — We  come  now  to  the  consideration 
of  the  third  great  phase  of  social  life:  namely,  the 
vocational.  As  has  already  been  explained,  the  term 
vocation  must  be  understood  in  a  broad  and  general 
sense;  by  it  is  meant,  not  the  special  vocation  of  any 
individual  or  set  of  individuals,  but  the  organized 
labor  of  society.  It  is  equivalent  to  the  economic 
order.  "Economics  is  the  science  which  deals  with 
wealth  in  its  most  general  aspect;  namely,  its  value 
aspect. ' '  And  the  economic  order  consists  of  those 
activities  of  society  which  produce  wealth  in  all  its 
forms.  By  wealth  is  meant  anything  which  satisfies 
want  in  any  form  and  which  is  at  the  same  time  un- 
der the  control  of  man.  Thus  the  economic  order 
consists  of  society's  organized  activities  through 
which  the  satisfaction  of  these  wants  of  man  is 
gained.  It  is  in  this  broad  sense  that  the  term  voca- 
tion is  here  used. 

Now  since  so  large  a  part  of  life  is  ordinarily  taken 
up  in  the  pursuit  of  and  struggle  for  those  things 
which  satisfy  wants  of  various  types,  it  is  to  be  ex- 
pected that  the  vocational  phase  of  life  will  present 


146  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

many  moral  situations.  The  term  "want"  covers  a 
very  broad  field  also.  It  includes  not  merely  the 
necessities  of  life  such  as  food,  clothing,  shelter,  and 
the  like,  but  also  the  comforts  and  luxuries  of  life. 
It  includes  many  of  the  things  which  minister  to  the 
intellectual  and  aesthetic  phases  of  life;  practically 
everything  that  can  be  bought  and  sold.  These  com- 
modities have  to  be  manufactured,  and  shipped  to 
wholesaler  and  retailer — each  of  these  complex  pro- 
cesses requiring  the  labor  of  a  large  number  of  per- 
sons. In  the  social  relations  thus  engendered,  situa- 
tions which  we  have  designated  as  moral  must  of 
necessity  arise.  It  is  important  therefore  that  we 
analyze  this  set  of  moral  situations  as  carefully  as 
possible  and  attempt  to  get  at  the  moral  principles 
which  underlie  them,  and  apply  them  to  the  situa- 
tions. 

The  devices  of  modern  civilization  which  have 
made  the  life  of  the  present  so  much  more  complex 
than  it  formerly  was  have  also  brought  increased 
complexity  and  difficulty  into  the  moral  life.  The 
introduction  of  machinery  and  the  factory  method 
of  production  have,  as  was  pointed  out  in  a  previous 
chapter,  given  rise  to  a  countless  number  of  new 
moral  situations.  And  yet  it  would  be  as  undesir- 
able as  it  would  be  impossible  to  go  back  to  the  con- 
ditions of  fifty  or  a  hundred  years  ago.  The  general 
economic  plan  of  the  present  is  essential  to  modern 
civilization.  It  is  only  in  a  specialized  society  such 
as  ours,  in  which  specialization  makes  possible  a 


THE   CBITEBION  APPLIED!     THE  VOCATION.         147 

higher  degree  of  efficiency,  that  the  people  as  a  whole 
can  reach  so  high  a  level  of  intelligence  and  culture. 
In  a  less  specialized  society  there  might  not  be  so 
at  the  extremes ;  but  the  general  level  would  be  much 
great  a  difference  between  the  attainments  of  those 
lower. 

The  vocation  and  personality. — The  general  eco- 
nomic plan  of  the  present  is  one  in  which  division 
of  labor  and  specialization  are  the  key-notes.  This 
has  attained  its  present  high  level  since  the  inven- 
tion of  machinery,  and  makes  possible  that  high  de- 
gree of  efficiency  on  the  part  of  the  laborer  without 
which  the  increased  number  of  wants  could  not  be 
satisfied.  By  the  repeated  performance  of  a  special 
kind  of  work  a  man  becomes  highly  skilled  in  his 
specialty,  and  is  enabled  to  turn  out  a  superior  grade 
of  work  at  a  much  more  rapid  rate  than  without  the 
skill  which  practice  brings.  By  the  proper  organiza- 
tion of  the  labor  of  a  number  of  skilled  workers,  to- 
gether with  the  assistance  of  the  machine,  the  qual- 
ity and  number  of  articles  can  be  greatly  improved 
and  increased,  and  at  a  saving  of  time  and  material. 
Skilled  labor  thus  brings  a  higher  wage  than  un- 
skilled, while  at  the  same  time  the  commodity  is 
cheapened  in  price.  In  this  way  the  members  of  so- 
ciety, if  they  are  fortunate  enough  to  be  in  the  class 
of  skilled  laborers  or  specialists,  are  benefited  in 
both  directions;  they  receive  higher  wages  and  in 
common  with  other  members  of  society  are  obliged  to 
pay  less  for  the  commodity  produced.  This  makes 


148  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

possible  a  surplus  of  money  with  which  to  buy  the 
product  of  other  men's  labor;  and  as  a  result  of  this 
surplus  an  increased  number  of  wants  can  be  satis- 
fied. The  standard  of  life  accordingly  is  raised.  One 
argument  for  a  high  protective  tariff  has  been  that 
the  American  workman  cannot  compete  with  the 
11  pauper"  labor  of  Europe.  If  this  be  true,  it  is  be- 
cause the  former  has  a  higher  standard  of  living 
than  the  latter;  that  is,  he  has  a  greater  number  of 
wants  which  must  be  satisfied.  These  wants  are  not 
merely  material  and  physical;  they  are  intellectual 
and  cultural  as  well. 

Now  the  higher  types  of  personality  depend  upon 
the  creation  and  satisfaction  of  a  larger  number  of 
wants,  the  wants  being  of  a  higher  and  higher  type. 
For  example,  it  would  not  be  difficult  to  follow  the 
process  of  the  "Americanization"  of  an  immigrant 
from  one  of  the  poorer  European  countries.  His 
progress  would  be  marked  at  every  step  by  the  ap- 
pearance of  some  new  desire  and  the  effort  to  satisfy 
it.  It  may  not  at  first  seem  that  a  larger  number  of 
wants  is  an  index  to  higher  personality.  And  yet  a 
little  examination  will  convince  us  that  up  to  a  cer- 
tain point  this  is  the  case.  For  example,  in  the  mat- 
ter of  food,  greater  variety  and  superior  preparation 
have  a  direct  relation  to  personality.  So  long  as  an 
individual  is  satisfied  to  gorge  himself  with  one  kind 
of  coarse  food,  paying  little  or  no  attention  to  the 
taste  of  it  but  being  satisfied  simply  with  a  full 
stomach,  the  type  of  personality  is  admittedly  low. 


THE   CBITEBION   APPLIED:     THE   VOCATION.         149 

But  as  character  comes  to  be  of  a  finer  grain,  greater 
attention  is  paid  to  the  nature  of  the  food  eaten,  its 
variety,  the  way  in  which  it  is  served,  the  formality 
governing  eating,  the  aesthetic  arrangement  of  table, 
dining  room,  and  the  like.  And  what  is  true  in  the 
matter  of  food  is  also  true  in  connection  with  the 
other  wants  of  life;  and  while  these  wants  are  not  the 
sole  causes  of  a  higher  type  of  personality,  they  are 
at  least  an  index  of  it.  From  development  in  these 
primary  matters  it  is  not  a  far  step  to  the  higher 
development  along  the  lines  of  the  appreciation  of 
music,  painting,  and  the  other  finer  things  of  life. 

Now  all  these  new  attainments  in  the  direction  of 
practical,  intellectual,  and  aesthetic  development 
bring  with  them  a  large  number  of  new  ways  of  com- 
mitting moral  wrong;  particularly  is  this  true  of  the 
matter  of  obtaining  these  satisfactions.  Yet,  not- 
withstanding this  fact,  the  moral  life  is,  on  the 
whole,  tremendously  broadened  and  deepened ;  while 
the  number  of  moral  situations  is  increased  the  pos- 
sibility of  moral  attainment  is  correspondingly  en- 
hanced. While  it  may  not  be  counted  as  morally 
wrong  to  fall  short  of  the  highest  standards  of 
action  in  these  respects,  yet  negatively,  morality  has 
suffered  to  the  extent  of  one's  f&^ure  to  attain  them. 
The  different  phases  of  consciousness — the  intellect- 
ual, the  aesthetic,  the  practical,  and  the  moral — are 
so  organically  bound  up  together  that  one  cannot  fail 
to  be  his  best  intellectually,  for  example,  without 
failing  morally  in  like  measure.  Or,  from  the  moral 


150  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

point  of  view,  one  cannot  afford  to  fall  short  of  his 
highest  aesthetic  taste,  because  aesthetic  ideals  and 
practices  are  reflected  in  moral  conduct.  It  is  in  the 
light  of  such  considerations  as  these  then  that  we 
assert  that  personality  and  character  depend  upon 
the  creation  and  satisfaction  of  a  larger  and  larger 
number  of  wants.  Of  course  these  wants  must  be 
of  the  right  kind,  if  personality  or  character  is  to  be 
morally  good.  They  must  be  those  that  make  for 
life  more  abundant,  not  those  which  dwarf  and 
destroy. 

II.    THE  MOEAL  PRINCIPLE. 

The  economic  order  must  be  socialized. — Coming 
back  now  to  the  economic  aspect,  we  may  say  that 
the  satisfactions  which  the  vocation  supplies  are  the 
raw  materials  of  life.  It  is  through  the  economic 
relations  that  the  primary  and  secondary  wants  of 
the  members  of  society  are  satisfied;  they  furnish 
the  foundation  upon  which  the  whole  life,  moral  as 
well  as  all  other  phases,  is  built.  There  is  thus  a 
double  relation  between  the  economic  and  the  moral. 
On  the  one  hand,  the  economic,  through  its  superior 
organization,  makes  possible  the  higher  levels  of  the 
moral;  on  the  other  hand,  a  large  number  of  the 
actual  moral  situations  which  arise  in  life  are  eco- 
nomic in  nature. 

We  have  seen  how  fundamental  to  personality  and 
character  economic  welfare  is.  But  if  the  economic 
is  to  be  the  aid  it  should  be,  and  if  the  moral  tone  of 


THE   CBITEBION   APPLIED:     THE   VOCATION.         151 

society  is  to  be  raised,  the  economic  order  must  be 
socialized.  If  all  the  members  of  society  are  to  have 
an  opportunity  to  develop  their  possibilities,  it  is 
absolutely  essential  that  their  economic  welfare  be 
assured.  This  can  come  about  only  as  the  vocation 
as  a  social  institution  is  further  socialized.  This  de- 
mands that  every  member  of  society  shall  "partici- 
pate in  all  the  essential  satisfactions  of  life,  and  that 
the  control  of  all  the  fundamental  agencies  by  which 
those  satisfactions  are  distributed"1  shall  be  in  their 
hands.  This  is  not  communism;  neither  does  it  mean 
the  kind  of  socialism  defined  by  Laughlin  as  "an 
emotional  attempt  to  bring  social  amelioration  by 
destroying  competition  and  private  property."  It 
simply  means  that  all  the  members  of  society  shall 
have  as  nearly  as  possible  an  equal  opportunity  to 
procure  those  things  which  satisfy  the  fundamental 
wants  of  life.  In  order  to  secure  to  them  this  oppor- 
tunity, it  is  necessary  that  they  have  some  control, 
through  government  or  otherwise,  over  the  means  of 
procuring  these  things.  And  while  this  is  an  ideal  to 
be  striven  for,  it  is  by  no  means  an  impossible  one. 
Indeed  progress  is  being  made  in  this  direction  with 
rapid  strides  at  the  present  time. 

The  principle — Let  us  state  the  conclusion  of  the 
foregoing  arguments  in  the  form  of  a  fundamental 
ethical  principle,  covering  the  economic  phase  of 
life.  The  principle  is  this:  first,  every  one  should 

KJillette :  Vocational  Education,  p.  83. 


152  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

have  the  economic  opportunity  for  self -realization; 
second,  this  involves  the  socialized  conscience.  Let 
us  explain  fully  what  this  signifies.  While  it  is  a 
fact  that  in  our  country  every  member  of  society  has 
more  nearly  an  equal  chance  with  every  one  else 
than  in  almost  any  other  country,  yet  even  here  there 
are  many  inequalities  which  debar  large  numbers 
from  the  opportunities  that  others  enjoy.  While 
this  is  the  land  of  opportunity;  while  our  public 
schools  are  open  to  all ;  while  every  one  has  the  right 
to  use  the  courts;  while  there  are  libraries  and  many 
philanthropic  institutions  free  to  all;  while  there  is 
no  aristocracy  and  no  hereditary  caste  system;  yet 
in  spite  of  these  facts,  those  who  have  wealth  can, 
and  in  many  instances  do,  oppress  those  who  have 
not.  Theoretically,  the  citizens  of  this  Common- 
wealth (note  the  term)  are  free  and  equal;  but  in 
practice  and  in  fact  they  are  not.  As  long  as  it  is 
possible  for  the  rich  to  oppress  the  poor,  and  as  long 
as  wealth  buys  power  which  brings  more  wealth,  and 
so  on  ad  infinitum,  we  cannot  have  true  equality  in 
fact.  We  must  limit  ourselves  here  to  the  economic 
phase  of  the  question;  but  let  it  be  remarked  that 
true  democracy  is  economic  democracy  as  well  as 
political. 

Meaning  of  opportunity. — For  every  one  to  have  a 
chance  for  self-realization  involves  two  things,  a 
negative  and  a  positive.  In  the  first  place  there 
must  be  no  exploitation;  and  in  the  second  there 
must  be  equality  of  opportunity.  Exploitation,  as 


THE   CRITEBION   APPLIED:     THE   VOCATION.         153 

we  use  the  term,  means  the  unjust  or  illegal  use  of 
resources  or  service  for  selfish  ends.  We  will  pass 
over  the  earlier  and  cruder  forms  of  exploitation, 
such  as  piracy,  slavery,  serfdom  or  peonage,  and 
confine  our  discussion  to  those  forms  from  which 
modern  society  is  suffering.  The  following  are  some 
of  the  more  glaring  of  the  modern  forms  of  exploita- 
tion, while  at  the  same  time  they  are  more  subtle  and 
better  organized  than  earlier  forms:  the  sweatshop, 
child  labor,  starvation  wages,  cheating,  false  weights 
and  measures,  a  legal  system  under  which  it  is  next 
to  impossible  for  a  poor  man  to  get  justice,  represen- 
tatives who  do  not  represent,  inflated  prices,  unjust 
taxation,  and  evading  the  spirit  of  the  law  while 
obeying  the  letter  on  the  part  of  large  corporations. 

Obviously  it  would  be  impossible  as  well  as  unde- 
sirable to  go  into  a  detailed  discussion  of  the  ethics 
of  all  of  these  instances  in  which  the  poorer  and  less 
able  members  of  society  are  exploited  by  the  strong. 
It  will  be  sufficient  to  point  out  the  ethical  signifi- 
cance of  some  one,  for  example,  the  almost  prohibi- 
tive, inflated  prices  fixed  by  the  "trusts"  on  many 
of  the  necessities  of  life.  If  a  given  commodity  is 
indeed  a  necessity  and  if  its  price  is  prohibitively 
high,  then  those  who  control  the  price  are  withhold- 
ing the  means  of  life  from,  and  even  taking  the  life 
of  those  who  have  not  had  a  fair  chance.  Can  any 
one  deny  the  moral  wrong  of  this? 

Or  suppose  the  case  is  not  so  drastic  as  this.  Let 
us  say  the  price  is  not  absolutely  prohibitively  high, 


154  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

but  is  barely  within  the  reach  of  most  of  the  mem- 
bers of  society.  In  this  case  all  of  the  available  re- 
sources will  necessarily  be  spent  for  the  few  funda- 
mental needs  of  life,  and  nothing  will  be  left  over 
with  which  to  satisfy  those  other  wants  that  are  the 
index  of  the  higher  levels  of  personality.  The  indi- 
vidual is  thus  held  down  to  a  monotonous  grind  in 
which  there  can  be  neither  the  desire  for,  nor  the 
ability  to  obtain,  those  things  which  make  for  the 
higher  and  finer  development  of  personality.  Now 
it  is  safe  to  say  that  on  account  of  the  high  prices 
and  all  of  the  other  forms  of  exploitation,  the  major- 
ity of  the  members  of  society  are  cramped  and  held 
down  in  this  way.  Thus  the  various  types  of  eco- 
nomic injustice  are  responsible  for  a  poverty  of  life 
which  is  unnecessary  and  preventable.  Not  only 
this,  but  on  the  other  hand,  these  same  conditions, 
this  pressure  from  above,  constantly  sets  before  each 
one  the  temptation  to  resort  to  like  unjust  and  unfair 
methods;  hence  economic  conditions  actually  be- 
come a  stimulus  for  wrong  doing. 

It  is  evident  then  that  it  is  impossible  for  all  the 
members  of  society  to  have  an  opportunity  for  self- 
realization  as  long  as  exploitation  in  its  various 
forms  is  so  rife.  Now  let  us  look  at  the  positive  side 
of  the  principle.  We  must  use  the  term  opportunity 
in  its  broadest  sense,  to  include  not  only  the  objec- 
tive side,  in  which  every  one  would  be  provided  with 
a  market  in  which  to  sell  his  labor  at  a  fair  wage,  but 
also  to  include  the  subjective  side;  important  as  is 


THE   CBITEBION   APPLIED:     THE   VOCATION.         155 

the  former,  it  is  the  latter  that  we  must  emphasize 
at  this  point. 

By  the  subjective  side  of  opportunity  we  mean 
that  the  individual  shall  be  physically,  mentally,  and 
morally  fit.  The  child  of  the  slums  who  comes  into 
the  world  with  a  defective  body  and  whose  social 
environment  is  such  that  he  cannot  reach  normal 
social,  mental,  and  moral  maturity  has  not  had  a 
fair  chance.  In  order  that  the  next  generation  may 
have  a  fair  chance,  it  is  necessary  in  the  first  place 
that  the  physical  environment  of  all  shall  be  made 
the  best  possible.  The  filthy  places  of  our  cities 
must  be  made  clean;  dirt,  foul  air,  and  darkness 
must  be  replaced  by  cleanliness,  fresh  air,  and  sun- 
shine. And  along  with  this  change  of  the  physical 
environment  must  come  a  corresponding  cleaning  up 
of  the  moral  atmosphere,  the  introduction  of  proper 
playgrounds,  reading-rooms,  amusement  halls,  etc. 
Further,  our  schools  must  more  adequately  train 
children  for  efficiency  both  in  the  trades  and  in  the 
home. 

All  of  these  things  will  make  for  a  better  parent- 
hood and  for  better  home  surroundings.  And  when 
this  shall  have  been  accomplished,  each  child  will 
receive  as  his  physical  and  social  inheritance  those 
qualities  which  will  make  him  an  efficient  member 
of  society.  These  are  the  things  which  constitute 
the  subjective  aspect  of  opportunity;  the  individual 
must  be  in  full  possession  of  his  latent  powers.  When 
this  stage  is  reached  the  individual  will  also  be  bet- 


156  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

ter  able  to  market  his  labor,  because  it  will  be  worth 
more.  There  is  then  a  double  gain  in  the  matter  of 
equalizing  opportunity;  the  subjective  phase  en- 
hances the  objective,  and  vice  versa. 

The  socialized  conscience. — The  first  part  of  our 
moral  principle  then  is  that  each  one  shall  be  as- 
sured a  chance  for  self-realization,  which  in  turn 
signifies  the  substitution  of  equal  opportunity  for 
exploitation.  The  second  part  is  that  this  involves 
a  socialized  conscience.  That  is,  if  exploitation  is 
to  be  done  away  with,  its  abolition  must  be  brought 
about  because  all  the  members  of  society,  the  strong 
as  well  as  the  weak,  have  come  to  a  recognition  of 
the  rights  of  all,  and  because  they  act  accordingly 
with  justice  and  good-will.  The  moral  standard  as 
applied  to  the  economic  order  is  thus  seen  in  both 
its  subjective  and  objective  phases. 

The  time  has  come  when  in  our  social  life  we  must 
revert  to  a  form  of  group  morality.  The  day  has 
passed  when  morality  can  be  worked  out  by  each 
individual  alone,  if  indeed  this  was  ever  possible. 
Life  under  modern  conditions  is  decidedly  a  social 
affair.  Obviously  a  group  morality  at  the  present 
time  must  be  organized  on  a  higher  plane  than  it  was 
under  primitive  conditions.  Then,  morality  con- 
sisted in  the  observance  of  custom  based  upon  imita- 
tion; now,  morality  must  be  a  rationalized  life.  But 
we  must  remember  that  human  life  is  as  fundamen- 
tally social  as  it  is  rational.  Hence  true  rationality 
in  the  realm  of  morals  means  a  socialized  conscience. 


THE   CRITERION  APPLIED:     THE  VOCATION.         157 

III.    ETHICAL   PROBLEMS. 

Property. — The  ethical  problems  of  the  economic 
order  may  be  considered,  for  our  purposes,  under 
two  heads:  (1)  property,  and  (2)  industry  and  busi- 
ness. The  ethical  significance  of  property  is  well 
set  forth  in  the  following  quotation:  "That  by 
which  the  will  gives  itself  real  standing,  and  objec- 
tive existence,  is  possession  or  property.  And  it  is 
accordingly  with  what  this  act  involves  that  abstract 
law  is  concerned.  Property  then  is  an  object,  in  so 
far  as  it  has  come  through  seizure  and  use  and  alie- 
nation, into  relation  to  a  human  will,  and  been  made 
an  attribute  of  a  'me:'  it  is  an  objectified  will.  It  is 
thus  a  necessity  of  concrete  freedom,  and  is  propor- 
tionately sacred But  now  this  property 

relation  is  not  really  established,  except  as  my  right 
is  recognized  and  allowed  by  my  neighbor.  It  in- 
volves not  simply  my  will,  but  the  consenting  will 
of  another,  and  thus  is  the  objectification  of  the  com- 
mon will.  The  relation  between  things  becomes  the 
relation  between  wills.  This  objectification  of  the 
common  will  forms  the  basis  of  contract.  .  .  . 
As,  therefore,  contracts  are  arbitrary  and  accidental, 
there  is  no  guarantee  against  their  passing  into  in- 
justice and  wrong.  This  may  take  the  form  of  un- 
conscious wrong,  or  of  fraud,  or  of  crime,  by  which, 
through  my  property,  violence  is  used  against  my 
will."2  A  large  number  of  the  moral  situations 


*Rogers :  Student's  History  of  Philosophy,  p.  465. 


158  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

which  arise  in  the  economic  order,  then,  arise 
through  the  use  that  is  made  of  property,  since  the 
use  to  which  it  is  put  represents  the  voluntary  action 
of  the  agent.  Property  becomes  the  tool  by  which 
one  man  works  his  will  upon  another. 

The  socialization  of  property. — Granting  the 
validity  of  this  view  of  property,  what  is  the  moral 
principle  involved?  In  the  light  of  the  fact  that 
morality  must  always  be  defined  in  social  terms,  the 
moral  principle  in  this  instance  is  that  property 
must  be  used  to  social  ends.  This  does  not  mean 
literally  that  one  must  bestow  all  of  one's  goods 
upon  the  poor,  but  that  one  shall  not  perform  anti- 
social action  by  means  of  property.  For  example, 
the  man  who  provides  a  comfortable  and  sanitary 
tenement  house  at  a  reasonable  rent  is  using  his 
property  for  social  ends.  On  the  other  hand,  he 
who  wrings  from  those  who  can  least  afford  to  pay 
an  extortionate  rent  for  ill-lighted,  ill-ventilated, 
vermin-inhabited,  fire-trap  tenement  houses,  is  in- 
deed acting  in  an  unsocial  way.  His  conduct  is  as 
immoral  as  it  is  unsocial.  Judged  by  the  moral  cri- 
terion, his  action  is  as  base  as  the  act  of  the  cold- 
blooded murderer.  Through  the  selfish  use  of  his 
property  he  is  robbing  other  people  of  the  means 
for  the  satisfaction  not  only  of  the  most  fundamental 
of  human  wants,  but  also  of  the  higher  wants,  which 
are  both  the  cause  and  the  effect  of  a  higher  type  of 
character.  He  is  robbing  children  of  a  fair  chance 
in  life;  he  is  not  only  a  thief  but  a  murderer  as  well. 


THE   CB1TEBION  APPLIED:     THE  VOCATION.         159 

It  is  unpleasant  to  state  these  facts  thus  baldly, 
because  men  guilty  of  this  kind  of  crime  are  often 
among  the  most  respected  in  the  community.  They 
may  give  liberally  to  charity  and  be  prominent  mem- 
bers of  the  church  and  otherwise  be  wrapped  in  the 
cloak  of  respectability,  passing  in  society  at  very 
much  the  valuation  which  they  put  upon  themselves. 
But  the  moral  law  is  no  respecter  of  persons,  and 
there  is  but  one  judgment  to  be  passed  upon  such 
conduct  as  has  been  described.  The  time  has  come 
when  we  must  fearlessly  call  this  kind  of  action  by 
its  proper  name,  and  proceed  to  deal  with  these 
social  offenders  and  others  of  their  type  as  they  de- 
serve. This  is  what  is  involved  in  saying  that  our 
consciences  must  be  socialized.  This  statement  in 
the  abstract  may  seem  perfectly  inoffensive  to  cus- 
tomary modes  of  thinking  and  acting.  But  when 
brought  down  to  its  concrete  application,  it  involves 
the  reconstruction  of  our  thought  and  action  in  just 
such  instances  as  have  been  mentioned,  which  are 
only  a  few  chosen  from  a  countless  number  of  simi- 
lar type. 

There  is  a  further  reason  why  a  man  may  not  use 
his  property  in  this  anti-social  manner.  The  value 
which  property  represents  is,  to  a  certain  extent,  a 
social  product.  The  value  of  a  given  article  consists 
in  its  ability  to  satisfy  some  want.  But  if  no  one 
desires  it,  it  has  no  value.  It  is  society  then  which 
gives  to  a  thing  its  value  in  that  it  creates  a  demand 
for  it.  And  since  society  has  endowed  the  commod- 


160  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

ity  with  value,  the  owner  is  not  at  liberty  to  use  it 
absolutely  as  he  sees  fit,  if  the  use  he  desires  to  make 
of  it  is  unsocial.  The  owner  of  the  unwholesome  ten- 
ement house  may  not  charge  an  extortionate  rent 
for  his  property  and  say:  ' ' I  will  do  as  I  please  with 
my  property;  they  may  take  it  or  leave  it."  This 
attitude  is  based  upon  a  fallacious  conception;  one 
which  is  unjust  and  therefore  immoral. 

With  regard  to  the  matter  of  the  unearned  incre- 
ment, the  question  is  not  whether  a  man  may  lay 
claim  to  this  as  his  own,  but  what  disposition  shall  be 
made  of  it  in  the  interest  of  all.  The  moral  principle 
clearly  indicates  that  in  so  far  as  it  is  unearned,  be- 
ing produced  by  society,  the  increase  in  valuation 
belongs  to  society,  and  not  to  the  individual.  A  very 
difficult  economic  question  is  to  tell  with  certainty 
when  the  increase  of  valuation  is  really  earned  and 
when  not.  For  example,  what  would  be  just  in  the 
case  in  which  a  man  has  the  foresight  to  see  that  the 
city  is  going  to  expand  in  a  given  direction,  and  pro- 
ceeds to  buy  up  the  land  in  that  vicinity?  To  whom 
does  the  increase  in  the  valuation  of  this  land  right- 
fully belong?  Does  it  belong  to  the  individual  in 
question  as  a  reward  for  his  keen  foresight,  or  does 
a  part  or  all  of  it  belong  to  society  who  really  created 
the  increase  in  value!  The  question  is  not  an  easy 
one,  and  no  satisfactory  solution  is  yet  forthcoming. 
But  in  cases  in  which  it  is  clear  that  the  increase  in 
value  is  unearned  by  the  owner,  it  is  equally  clear 
that  the  increase  belongs  to  society. 


THE  CBITBBION  APPLIED:     THE  VOCATION.         161 

There  are  many  other  problems  of  similar  nature 
for  which  a  satisfactory  solution  has  not  yet  been 
found,  but  upon  which  the  best  minds  of  the  country 
are  working;  for  example,  the  question  of  private 
versus  public  ownership  of  public  utilities.  How- 
ever we  shall  not  attempt  to  discuss  these  further. 
But  we  may  say  in  summary,  concerning  the  ethical 
problems  which  center  in  property:  First,  that  the 
existence  of  the  problem  implies  that  in  many  in- 
stances the  owners  are  using  it  either  consciously  or 
unconsciously  as  a  means  of  carrying  out  an  unjust 
or  dishonest  will.  In  the  second  place,  the  so-called 
right  of  doing  with  one's  own  absolutely  as  one 
pleases  is  a  fiction.  As  to  the  exact  application  of 
this  principle  that  property  must  be  used  to  social 
ends,  society  has  not  yet  worked  out  a  satisfactory 
answer.  But  it  is  the  moral  duty  of  eveiy  member 
of  society  to  exercise  the  virtues  of  the  socialized 
conscience,  and  in  so  doing  to  try  to  assist  in  the 
ultimate  solution  of  the  problem. 

Industry  and  business. — One  of  the  chief  difficul- 
ties in  the  way  of  applying  the  moral  law  to  the  sit- 
uations arising  in  the  realm  of  industry  and  business 
lies  in  the  fact  that  as  these  phases  of  the  economic 
life  have  grown  in  size  and  organization,  they  have 
at  the  same  time  become  highly  impersonal.  As  long 
as  the  business  of  production  and  distribution  was 
in  the  hands  of  separate  individuals,  and  as  long  as 
the  personal  contact  of  the  producer  and  consumer, 
laborer  and  employer,  was  maintained,  it  was  not  so 


162  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

difficult  to  keep  track  of  the  moral  situation  and 
apply  the  moral  law.  But  under  present  conditions 
in  which  producer  and  consumer,  employer  and  em- 
ployee, are  frequently  unknown  to  each  other,  and 
perhaps  even  widely  separated,  it  is  by  no  means  as 
easy  to  maintain  a  vivid  sense  of  moral  obligation; 
and  indeed  in  many  instances  it  is  not  easy  to  know 
what  the  right  is.  In  cases  in  which  great  enter- 
prises are  carried  on  by  large  organizations  of  men, 
in  which  each  one  is  simply  a  cog  in  a  great  machine, 
it  is  indeed  difficult  to  locate  responsibility.  In  fact, 
it  would  be  unfair  in  many  instances  to  attempt  to 
place  upon  any  single  individual  the  responsibility 
for  things  which  are  clearly  morally  wrong.  And 
yet,  for  every  moral  wrong  some  one  is  responsible; 
the  difficulty  is  to  determine  who.  But  the  very  fact 
that  it  is  increasingly  difficult  to  locate  responsibil- 
ity for  moral  wrongs,  and  that  the  old  personal  rela- 
tion has  given  place  to  a  corporate  one,  makes  it 
doubly  necessary  that  the  subject  be  given  thought- 
ful consideration.  If  morality  is  to  stand,  as  indeed 
it  must  if  society  is  to  stand,  we  must  reinterpret  the 
moral  law  in  this  field  as  well  as  in  others,  and  apply 
it  in  such  a  way  that  justice  shall  be  guaranteed  to 
all  the  members  of  society. 

The  best  possible  commodity. — Now  on  the  side  of 
industry  or  production,  the  members  of  society  have 
the  right  to  expect  the  best  possible  commodity  at 
the  lowest  possible  cost.  This  is  necessary  if  per- 
sonality is  to  be  realized.  In  order  to  accomplish 


THE   CBITERION  APPLIED:     THE  VOCATION.         163 

this  capital  and  labor  must  be  brought  together  un- 
der the  best  conditions  of  organization  possible.  It 
is  a  social  misfortune  that  capitalists  and  laborers 
should  so  generally  regard  each  other  as  enemies. 
The  fact  is  that  each  class  is  necessary  to  the  other 
and  could  not  survive  independently.  Each  should 
recognize  that  the  other  has  its  rights,  as  well  as  its 
obligations. 

The  rights  of  capital. — It  must  be  granted  that 
capital  has  the  right  to  seek  the  best  investment,  the 
one  that  will  yield  the  greatest  return  upon  the 
money;  that  it  has  a  right  to  a  fair  return;  that  it 
has  the  right  also  to  combine,  if  by  so  doing  it  can 
increase  its  efficiency.  It  seems  to  be  the  opinion  of 
many  at  the  present  time  that  all  combination  on  the 
part  of  capital  is  socially  and  morally  wrong.  But 
we  must  bear  in  mind  that  the  whole  trend  of  social 
development  is  in  the  direction  of  combination, 
cooperation,  and  corporate  activity.  This  is  true 
not  only  in  relation  to  capital  but  in  all  phases  of 
life;  and  this  right  could  not  be  denied  to  capital 
without  putting  a  stop  to  the  whole  process  of  mod- 
ern progress  and  civilization.  While  unlimited  com- 
petition is  a  valuable  thing  in  a  certain  stage  of 
social  development,  yet  it  is  essentially  a  wasteful 
and  uneconomic  process.  The  abuses  which  have 
been  made  of  combination  in  the  first  experiments 
along  this  line  in  our  country  sometimes  blind  us  to 
the  fact  that  proper  combination  is  the  possible 
source  of  untold  good  to  society. 


164  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

The  abuses  of  capital. — But  while  recognizing 
these  rights  on  the  part  of  capital,  we  cannot  forget 
the  abuses,  the  moral  wrongs  and  injustice,  which 
are  chargeable  to  capital  in  these  first  years  of  our 
industrial  expansion.  The  fact  that  capital  has 
rights  implies  that  there  are  certain  obligations 
which  it  bears  to  society.  The  obligation  in  general 
is  that  capital  shall  be  as  efficient  and  productive  as 
possible,  and  at  the  same  time  be  just.  Capital,  like 
property,  should  be  used  to  social  ends.  The  abuses 
or  mal-uses  of  capital  which  have  sprung  up  in  re- 
cent years  are  familiar  to  every  one:  monopoly  and 
combination  with  the  purpose  of  controlling  prices, 
the  trust  with  the  same  purpose,  the  watering  of 
stock,  the  manipulation  of  the  stock  market,  the 
trading  in  margins,  and  the  like.  These  things  have 
become  so  common  that  we  would  be  in  danger  of 
losing  sight  of  the  moral  wrong  involved  in  them  if 
they  did  not  touch  the  pocket-book  in  so  many  cases. 
These  are  practical  problems  in  social  economy,  but 
we  must  not  forget  that  they  are  also  deeply  moral 
questions. 

For  example,  we  profess  to  believe  that  gambling 
is  wrong,  that  it  is  unjust,  and  that  it  endangers  all 
the  qualities  which  go  to  make  good  character.  We 
have  our  city  ordinances  and  our  state  laws  against 
gambling  in  all  forms,  from  crap-shooting  to  horse 
racing;  and  yet  we  are  singularly  insensitive,  mor- 
ally, to  one  of  the  worst  and  most  far-reaching  forms 
of  gambling:  namely,  gambling  on  the  stock  market. 


THE   CRITERION   APPLIED:     THE   VOCATION.         165 

We  have  not  passed  beyond  the  personal  stage  in 
our  way  of  looking  at  it  as  yet.  When  one  man 
swindles  another  out  of  his  property,  we  rise  up  in 
our  wrath  to  condemn  him  and  demand  that  he  be 
punished.  But  when  a  man  swindles  the  rest  of  society 
out  of  a  few  cents  each,  we  look  on  unmoved  and 
perhaps  even  commend  him  for  his  shrewdness.  Or 
again,  if  a  poor  wretch  steals  a  loaf  of  bread  to  keep 
his  children  from  starvation,  we  solemnly  shut  him 
up  in  jail  for  thirty  days  and  fine  him  twenty-five 
dollars  and  costs,  because  he  is  a  menace  to  society. 
But  we  sit  complacently  by  and  watch  some  financial 
magnate  steal  a  whole  railroad,  or  the  sugar  trust 
steal  untold  millions  from  society,  or  some  corpora- 
tion exploit  our  national  resources — and  feel  never 
an  emotional  tremor.  Our  consciences  are  not  yet 
socialized!  If  some  one  steals  from,  cheats,  or  de- 
frauds me,  I  have  no  difficulty  in  seeing  the  injustice 
in  the  act.  But  if  some  one  steals  from,  cheats,  or 
defrauds  the  public,  I  regard  it  as  lucky  that  I  got 
off  as  easily  as  I  did  and  let  it  go  at  that,  with  not  a 
moment 's  thought  of  the  moral  wrong  in  the  case. 

The  social  point  of  view. — Now  society  will  not 
have  become  thoroughly  moral  until  every  member 
thereof  feels  the  same  emotional  stirrings  when  he 
sees  social  injustice  and  wrong  in  any  of  these  forms, 
as  when  injustice  or  wrong  is  committed  against  him 
personally.  That  is  what  is  meant  by  the  socialized 
conscience.  Or,  put  it  the  other  way:  my  conscience 
may  deter  me  from  stealing  from,  cheating,  or  de- 


166  THE    SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

frauding  my  neighbor;  and  yet  I  may  count  myself 
justified  in  defrauding  the  street  car  company,  the 
gas  or  water  company.  But  my  conscience  has  not 
become  socialized  until  I  ask  myself  not  merely 
whether  this  act  is  allowable  for  me  as  an  individual, 
or  as  an  individual  in  relation  to  my  neighbor,  but 
also  whether  the  wider  social  consequences  of  my  act 
are  desirable. 

The  points  referred  to  in  the  last  paragraph  apply 
not  merely  to  a  man  in  his  capacity  as  capitalist,  but 
to  all  men  under  all  conditions.  To  come  back  now 
more  specifically  to  the  moral  significance  of  capi- 
tal, let  the  fact  be  emphasized  that  in  so  far  as  it  in 
any  way  reaps  for  itself  an  unjust  increase,  it  to  that 
extent  denies  the  right  of  self-realization  to  the  other 
members  of  society.  The  trust,  in  putting  up  the 
price  of  an  article  to  a  figure  higher  than  that  which 
represents  a  legitimate  profit,  is  robbing  the  mem- 
bers of  society  of  the  opportunity  of  satisfying  their 
higher  wants,  through  the  satisfaction  of  which  per- 
sonality grows.  And  those  who  connive  at  this  in- 
justice, together  with  all  the  other  members  of  so- 
ciety who  submit  passively,  are  lacking  in  a  social- 
ized conscience. 

The  rights  of  labor. — Let  us  now  look  at  the  moral 
questions  involved  on  the  labor  side  of  the  process 
of  production.  Labor,  in  common  with  capital,  has 
its  rights  and  its  obligations.  And  unfortunately 
also  there  are  certain  abuses  chargeable  to  the  hand 
of  labor.  In  the  first  place,  what  are  the  rights  on 


THE   CRITERION   APPLIED:     THE   VOCATION.         167 

the  side  of  labor?  The  most  important  of  these  are 
just  wages,  fair  hours,  safe  and  sanitary  conditions 
under  which  to  work,  and,  finally,  the  right  to  com- 
bine for  the  purpose  of  securing  these  other  rights. 
Wages  and  self  realization. — The  relation  of 
wages  to  the  matter  of  personality  is  at  once  appar- 
ent ;  and  we  need  not  further  argue  the  necessity  of 
a  living  wage  at  this  point.  The  question  may  well 
be  raised,  however,  what  a  living  wage  is.  Without 
going  into  the  question  from  the  economic  point  of 
view,  we  may  say  that  a  living  wage  is  one  which 
will  enable  the  worker  to  maintain  himself  and  fam- 
ily above  the  poverty  line.  Poverty  may  be  defined 
as  a  condition  in  which  some  of  the  fundamental 
satisfactions  of  life  are  denied:  the  poverty  stricken 
are  under-fed,  inadequately  clothed  and  housed,  to 
say  nothing  of  their  lacking  the  means  wherewith 
to  satisfy  other  wants.  From  the  moral  point  of 
view  it  is  unjust  that  a  social  system  should  exist 
which  forces  a  considerable  number  of  the  members 
of  society  below  this  line.  But  we  cannot  stop  even 
here.  It  is  not  sufficient  that  the  members  of  society 
shall  have  barely  enough  means  with  which  to  main- 
tain themselves  above  the  line  of  necessity  from  day 
to  day.  If  personality  is  to  grow  and  develop  as  we 
have  indicated,  there  must  be  provided  sufficient 
means  wherewith  to  satisfy  the  fundamental  wants, 
and  a  little  besides.  There  must  be  enough  so  that 
those  members  of  society  who  are  thrifty  and  who 
would  make  a  practice  of  saving,  if  they  had  the  op- 


168  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

portunity,  may  do  so,  and  may  at  the  same  time 
gratify  and  cultivate  their  aesthetic  natures.  It  is 
only  under  conditions  such  as  these  that  they  may 
have  the  "abundant"  life.  Anything  less  is  mere 
existence. 

Leisure. — The  same  principle  holds  with  respect 
to  the  matter  of  fair  working  hours.  Suppose  that 
the  wages  are  just  and  that  all  the  other  conditions 
of  life  are  equally  desirable;  if  the  hours  of  labor 
are  too  long  there  is  left  no  energy  or  interest  or 
time  through  which  other  than  the  necessary  wants 
may  be  satisfied,  even  if  they  should  be  felt.  A  cer- 
tain amount  of  leisure  is  necessary  in  the  develop- 
ment of  the  aesthetic  life;  and  it  is  likewise  true  of 
the  moral  life,  at  least  in  the  realization  of  the  higher 
levels  of  personality. 

Working  conditions. — The  question  with  regard 
to  safe  and  sanitary  conditions  under  which  to  work 
is  a  very  important  one.  We  are  extremely  wasteful 
of  human  life  in  our  country ;  and  it  is  time  that  we 
count  the  cost,  in  terms  of  human  life,  of  our  boasted 
material  progress  and  see  if  it  has  not  been  bought  at 
too  great  a  price.  Maiming  and  killing  in  mine,  fac- 
tory, and  shop  have  become  such  common  occur- 
rences that  the  accounts  of  them  no  longer  cause 
more  than  a  passing  thought,  unless  perchance  our 
own  circle  of  family,  friends,  or  acquaintances  is  in- 
vaded by  misfortune,  and  the  matter  thus  takes  on 
a  personal  meaning.  But  let  us  look  at  it  from  the 
point  of  view  of  morality.  If  one  man  beats  another 


THE   CBITBBION   APPLIED:     THE   VOCATION.         169 

man's  brains  out  with  a  club,  or  shoots  him,  society 
knows  pretty  well  what  to  call  the  offense  and  what 
punishment  should  be  meted  out.  But  what  if  a 
score  of  men  lose  their  lives  in  a  mine  because  of  the 
negligence  of  the  company?  Or  what  shall  we  call 
it  when  a  man  gets  caught  in  a  machine  and  is 
killed;  or  what  of  the  awful  toll  upon  life  when  little 
children  work  in  factory  and  mine  at  a  period  when 
they  should,  by  all  the  laws  of  nature  and  justice,  be 
growing  into  the  full  stature  of  manhood,  physically, 
mentally,  and  spiritually?  What  name  shall  we  ap- 
ply to  the  process  of  systematically  poisoning  the 
members  of  society  in  a  wholesale  way  by  the  use  of 
injurious  drugs  and  preservatives  in  food  and  medi- 
cine? We  need  the  courage  and  the  honesty  as  in- 
telligent members  of  society  to  call  these  by  their 
proper  name,  murder,  and  to  demand  that  in  the 
name  of  justice  and  righteousness  they  shall  cease. 
The  impersonal  nature  of  these  social  sins  is  no 
doubt  one  of  the  chief  causes  for  our  moral  lethargy 
in  connection  with  them.  But  the  gospel  of  the  so- 
cialized conscience  needs  to  be  preached  from  every 
pulpit,  in  every  school  house,  and  in  every  news- 
paper in  the  country.  And  we  cannot  lay  claim  to  a 
consistent  moral  life  as  individuals  until  we  engage 
actively  in  a  cooperative  effort  to  banish  these  forms 
of  moral  wrong  from  society. 

The  right  of  combination. — Some  of  the  things 
mentioned  in  the  foregoing  paragraph  are  rights 
which  belong  not  only  to  the  working-man,  but 


170  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

to  every  member  of  society.  They  touch  the  lives 
of  the  laborers  more  intimately,  however,  than 
those  of  the  more  privileged  classes  of  society. 
In  line  with  the  foregoing  suggestions  there  is 
one  other  right  belonging  to  labor  which  must  re- 
ceive attention.  The  assertion  has  sometimes  been 
made  that  labor  has  no  right  to  combine  under  any 
conditions  or  for  any  purpose.  But  this  is  mani- 
festly as  unfair  as  to  say  that  capital  has  no  right  to 
combine  under  any  conditions.  It  is  but  just  that 
the  men  who  perform  the  labor  of  the  country  shall 
be  allowed  to  come  together  and  perfect  an  organi- 
zation for  the  purpose  of  securing  a  better  under- 
standing of  what  things  are  most  needed  by  the 
working  men  and  of  planning  how  best  to  gain  these. 
Through  cooperative  effort  along  these  lines  more 
can  be  accomplished  than  can  possibly  be  done  when 
men  work  for  the  same  things  singly.  It  is  true  of 
course  that  the  same  objection  is  apparent  here  as 
in  the  case  of  capital:  it  is  difficult  to  locate  the  re- 
sponsibility for  any  abuse  that  may  arise.  But  this 
is  not  a  sufficient  argument  against  the  right.  It  is 
true  also  that  most,  if  not  all,  of  the  abuses  which 
are  chargeable  to  the  hand  of  labor  have  arisen  out 
of  organized  labor.  This  point  will  be  referred  to 
again.  The  significance  of  this  right  from  the  point 
of  view  of  morals  is  that  so  long  as  labor  attempts 
by  honorable  and  peaceful  methods  to  gain  these  de- 
sired ends,  it  is  entirely  within  its  moral  rights;  but 
that  to  attempt  by  any  other  methods  to  gain  these 


THE   CBITEBION   APPLIED:     THE   VOCATION.         171 

ends,  no  matter  how  desirable  they  may  be,  is  mor- 
ally wrong. 

The  moral  obligation  of  labor. — But  the  moral  law 
imposes  obligations  as  well  as  bestows  rights.  We 
have  mentioned  the  rights  which  a  socialized  and 
moralized  society  would  grant  to  labor.  Now  the 
obligations  which  the  working-man  owes  to  society 
may  perhaps  be  summed  up  in  the  one  word — effi- 
ciency. Society  has  the  moral  right  to  expect  at  the 
hand  of  the  laborer  that  he  will  do  the  tasks  assigned 
to  him  with  thoroughness,  dispatch,  and  intelli- 
gence. In  other  words,  he  must  give  an  adequate 
return  for  value  received;  his  work  must  be  con- 
scientiously done,  with  as  little  waste  of  time  and 
material  as  possible.  An  example  of  inefficiency  is 
the  perennial  instance  of  the  plumber  who  through 
mere  thoughtlessness  forgets  a  tool  or  fitting  that  is 
necessary  to  the  job  and  takes  a  half  day  in  which 
to  get  the  missing  part;  in  the  meantime  the  un- 
happy house-holder  is  subjected  to  the  worry  and 
inconvenience  of  a  needless  delay,-  only  to  discover 
when  the  bill  is  sent  in  that  the  laborer  has  included 
in  it  not  only  the  time  during  which  he  was  return- 
ing for  the  forgotten  piece,  but  even  the  necessary 
carfare.  This  is  morally  wrong;  and  labor  cannot 
command  the  sympathy  and  consideration  it  really 
deserves  as  long  as  it  tolerates  this  kind  of  ineffi- 
ciency and  incompetency.  Indeed,  an  act  such  as 
this  involves  all  the  essentials  of  stealing.  It  is  a 
situation  that  has  been  made  possible,  at  least  in 


172  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

large  degree,  by  the  intricacies  of  modern  life;  but 
it  is  none  the  less  morally  wrong.  And  what  society 
demands  and  has  the  right  to  expect  at  the  hands  of 
labor  is  the  simple  honesty  and  justice  of  efficiency 
and  competency  in  the  different  lines  of  the  world's 
work. 

Abuses. — In  a  labor  market  where  unrestricted 
competition  obtains,  as  is  the  case  where  there  are 
no  labor  organizations,  the  incompetents  and  ineffi- 
cients  do  not  figure  in  setting  the  standard  of  effi- 
ciency because  there  is  little  demand  for  their  serv- 
ices. But  in  many  instances  the  labor  union  has 
served  to  reduce  all  laborers  to  a  dead  level  of  effi- 
ciency. The  impetus  to  individual  excellence  is  de- 
stroyed by  restrictive  rules  regarding  the  amount 
of  work  that  may  be  done.  Where  this  is  the  case 
the  union  is  a  detriment  to  society,  and  eventually  to 
labor  itself,  in  that  it  tends  to  make  its  members  less 
efficient. 

On  the  positive  side  there  are  many  things  of  an 
even  more  anti-social  nature  which  are  chargeable 
to  labor.  Labor  organizations  have  not  shown 
clearly  in  the  past  that  they  are  on  the  side  of  law 
and  order.  The  things  done  during  times  of  strike, 
the  destruction  of  property  and  even  of  life,  indicate 
that  labor  is  frequently  willing  to  accomplish  its 
ends  regardless  of  means. 

Summary. — It  is  seen  that  the  only  final  solution 
of  the  problems  centering  in  the  economic  relations 


THE   CRITERION  APPLIED:     THE  VOCATION.         173 


is  a  fully  socialized  conscience  on  the  part  of  all 
members  of  society.  This  is  indeed  an  ideal,  the  real- 
ization of  which  will  require  many  years  of  social 
development;  but  it  is  one  for  which  we  must  none 
the  less  strive.  Let  us  sum  up  the  situation  and  then 
add  a  brief  word  as  to  the  means  best  adapted  to  the 
immediate  need:  A  highly  specialized  economic 
structure  of  society  is  necessary  to  our  civilization 
as  a  basis  upon  which  the  personality  of  the  mem- 
bers of  society  is  to  be  realized.  The  moral  situa- 
tions which  arise  in  this  phase  of  life  are  those  cen- 
tering in  property  and  industry  and  business,  in 
which  injustice  is  committed  against  one  class  of 
society  by  another.  These  are  exceedingly  practical 
and  commonplace  questions  of  honor,  honesty,  truth- 
fulness, integrity,  and  justice.  Each  special  struc- 
ture of  society  has  its  rights  and  its  obligations  ;  and 
the  requisite  condition  of  social  health  under  these 
circumstances  is  a  socialized  conscience  on  the  part 
of  all. 

IV.    PUBLICITY  AND  THE  SOCIALIZED  CONSCIENCE. 

Publicity  and  the  virtue  of  intelligence.  —  Now 
how  is  this  socialized  conscience  to  be  acquired  in  a 
group  in  which  the  old  personal  contact  and  relation 
has  been  largely  supplanted  by  an  impersonal  and 
corporate  relation?  The  answer  is  that  the  feeling 
of  personal  responsibility  must  be  replaced  by  pub- 
licity. If  we  are  to  revert  to  a  type  of  group  moral- 


174  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

ity,  as  has  been  suggested,  the  only  basis  upon  which 
this  can  be  accomplished  is  a  systematic  publicity 
campaign  along  all  lines  of  public  interest.  For  ex- 
ample, if  the  disposition  of  the  funds  that  were 
placed  in  the  hands  of  the  Secretary-Treasurer  of 
the  National  Association  of  Structural  Iron  Work- 
ers had  been  made  public  at  all  times,  it  is  altogether 
probable  that  the  dynamiting  outrages  perpetrated 
by  the  officers  of  that  organization  could  never  have 
occurred.  The  same  would  be  equally  true  with  re- 
gard to  the  deeds  of  capitalists,  as  for  example,  life 
insurance  companies.  The  matter  of  publicity  has 
come  to  be  a  moral  duty. 

By  publicity  is  meant  the  social  counterpart  of 
individual  intelligence,  which  we  have  seen  to  be  the 
basis  of  all  other  moral  virtues.  And  as  these  other 
virtues  function,  that  is,  as  the  socialized  conscience 
comes  to  be  a  conditioning  factor  in  the  lives  of  the 
individual  members  of  society,  it  will  also  register 
itself  in  the  will  of  the  people  as  a  whole  in  the  form 
of  a  public  conscience.  We  have  already  had  enough 
experience  to  know  that  when  the  public  conscience 
is  once  aroused,  vested  sin  in  any  form  whatever  can- 
not stand.  Let  us  not  conclude  that  mere  publicity 
in  itself  can  cure  all  of  these  ills.  It  is  only  as  con- 
duct is  conditioned  by  prudence,  purpose,  justice, 
and  good-will  that  morality  will  become  dynamic 
and  that  readjustment  along  proper  lines  will  be 
made. 


THE   CRITERION  APPLIED!     THE  VOCATION.         175 

QUESTIONS  AND  TOPICS  FOE  FURTHER  STUDY. 

1.  Show  the  moral  advantage  accruing  from  a  highly 
specialized  society. 

2.  Does  the  possession  of  property  or  a  good  job  react 
upon  an  individual  in  such  a  way  as  make  him  more 
highly  responsible  morally? 

3.  What  are  the  chief  causes  of  inefficiency?    What 
are  the  possibilities  of  psychological  efficiency  tests.   (See 
Mtinsterberg :  Psychology  and  Industrial  Efficiency). 

4.  Does  the  unemployment  of  large  numbers  of  men 
react  in  an  undesirable  way  upon  the  morals  of  a  com- 
munity? 

5.  What  would  economic  democracy  be?    Would  this 
make  for  better  morals  ? 

6.  Is    there    any    particular    relation   between    good 
health  and  good  character  ? 

7.  What  is  the  most  important  moral  achievement  of 
social  settlement  work  ? 

8.  Point  out  the  moral  significance  of  child  labor. 

9.  What  is  the  moral  significance  of  the  sweat  shop? 

10.  What  moral  potentiality  is  there  in   the  labor 
union  ? 

11.  What  is  the  moral  effect  of  a  strike? 

12.  Mention  different  ways  in  which  we  are  wasteful 
of  human  life  in  this  country.    What  is  the  moral  effect 
of  this? 

13.  What  is  meant  by  the  'watering  of  stock'  ?    What 
is  the  moral  significance  of  this? 

14.  WThat  is  the  single  tax  theory?    Would  this  serve 
the  ends  of  morality  ? 

15.  State  some  of  the  facts  with  regard  to  food  adult- 
eration   (See    McCann:    Starving   America,    Ch.   VX). 
What  is  the  moral  significance  of  this  practice? 


176  THE   SOCIALIZED  CONSCIENCE. 

16.  Give  other  illustrations  than  those  cited  in  the 
text,  of  the  statement  that  our  consciences  are  not  yet 
socialized. 

17.  Why  would  more  systematic  methods  of  publicity 
improve  the  morals  of  a  community  ? 

18.  State  the  advantages  and  the  disadvantages,  from 
the  moral  point  of  view,  of  public  ownership  of  public 
utilities. 

19.  Give  examples  of  the  unearned  increment.    What 
seems  to  you  to  be  the  just  disposition  of  this  question  ? 

REFERENCES. 
ON  THE  ETHICAL  PRINCIPLES  OF  THE  ECONOMIC  ORDER, 


Dewey  and  Tufts:  Ethics,  Ch.  XXII, 
Nearing  :  Social  Adjustment,  Ch.  I,  XVI. 
Redfield  :  The  New  Industrial  Day,  Ch.  VII. 
Eauschenbusch  :  Christianizing  the  Social  Order,  Pt. 
V;  Pt.  VI,  Ch.  III. 

ON  THE  ETHICAL  PROBLEMS  OF  THE  ECONOMIC  ORDER. 

Dealey  :  Sociology,  pp.  291-298. 
Dewey  and  Tufts  :  Ethics,  Ch.  XXIV,  XXV. 
Hadley  :  Standards  of  Public  Morals,  Ch.  II,  III. 
Lincoln  :   The  Factory,  Ch.  I,  VII. 
Nearing:    Social  Adjustment,  Ch.   IV,   XII,   XIII, 
XIV. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  CRITERION  APPLIED:    THE  STATE. 
I.     THE  MORAL  VALUE  OF  THE  STATE. 

Law  and  morals. — There  is  a  close  relation  be- 
tween ethics — the  science  of  morality,  and  politics — 
the  science  of  the  state.  Individual  men  are  univer- 
sally members  of  some  governed  community,  and 
their  moral  virtues  are  exhibited  in  relation  to  other 
individuals.  Ethics  has  in  the  past  mainly  signified 
what  might  be  called  "private"  ethics,  as  opposed  to 
public  ethics;  whereas  politics  is  concerned  with  the 
good  or  welfare  of  men  as  members  of  a  state  or  as 
a  political  group.  The  newer  attitude  which  does 
not  believe  in  a  "private"  ethics,  if  by  this  is  meant 
the  process  of  realizing  the  moral  ideal  within  one's 
own  shell,  so  to  speak,  regards  morality  as  indisso- 
lubly  bound  up  with  the  state,  as  it  is  with  every 
other  social  institution.  Perfect  morality  would  in- 
volve a  perfect  state,  and  vice  versa. 

While  there  is  thus  an  organic  connection  between 
morality  and  the  state,  we  must  nevertheless  distin- 
guish between  ethics  and  law,  the  mandates  of  the 
state.  ' '  Moral  rules  are  enforced  by  individual  con- 
science or  by  the  disapproval  of  public  opinion.  Law 
is  enforced  by  the  power  of  the  state.  There  is,  how- 
ever, a  difference  in  content  as  well.  Ethics  deals 

177 


178  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

with  the  whole  life  of  man,  his  thoughts  and  emo- 
tions as  well  as  with  his  actions.  Law  is  concerned 
only  with  the  outward  acts.  .  .  It  necessarily 
follows  that  many  things  thought  of  as  morally 
wrong  are  not  prohibited  by  law.  Falsehood,  unless 
under  oath  or  in  a  fraudulent  contract,  is  immoral 
but  not  illegal.  Ingratitude,  jealousy,  meanness,  are 
indications  of  bad  character,  but  do  not  come  under 
the  cognizance  of  law  unless  actual  injury  to  others 
can  be  proved."1 

Statutory  and  moral  laws  are  both  designed  to 
govern  and  control  the  actions  of  men.  But  while 
the  former  are  mainly  negative  in  character,  the  lat- 
ter are  positive.  Statutory  law  represents  society's 
unconditional  negative:  it  says,  "thou  shalt  not." 
It  marks  the  limit  beyond  which  a  man  may  not  go 
in  his  action.  And  in  so  far  as  law  concerns  some 
vital  human  interest,  it  is  morally  wrong  to  disobey 
it.  It  is  perfectly  possible  that  an  act  may  be  re- 
garded as  legally  right  and  at  the  same  time  be 
morally  wrong.  This  is  because  moral  law  is  posi- 
tive. It  points  to  what  a  man  ought  to  do,  not  to 
what  he  may  not  do. 

The  state  in  relation  to  personality. — Gathering 
up  the  points  thus  far  brought  out  and  generalizing 
we  may  say  that  it  is  the  business  of  the  state  to 
maintain  a  suitable  social  environment  within  which 
its  members  can  live  and  develop.  We  have  already 


HSettell :  Introduction  to  Political  Science,  p.  130. 


THE  CRITERION  APPLIED:    THE  STATE. 

found  that  the  moral  ideal  is  the  development  of 
socialized  personality  and  that  the  latter  grows  in  a 
social  soil.  The  state  must  perform  its  function  by 
defining  in  clear  terms  those  acts  which  are  obviously 
anti-social,  by  providing  adequate  punishment  for 
these,  and  by  administering  these  punishments 
swiftly  and  justly.  This  is  the  whole  duty  of  the 
state,  from  the  point  of  view  of  morals.  The  state 
must  mediate  between  the  individual  and  organized 
society.  It  must  safeguard  the  rights  and  liberties 
of  the  individual ;  and  it  must  do  this  by  protecting 
the  whole  group  against  any  anti-social  tendency 
on  the  part  of  any  refractory  member  of  society. 
The  state  thus  becomes  the  protector  of  the  home, 
the  school,  the  vocation,  and  the  church. 

II.     THE   FUNCTION   OP   THE   STATE. 

Sovereignty. — Let  us  now  analyze  the  state  for 
the  purpose  of  determining  its  essential  characteris- 
tics. In  the  first  place,  how  shall  we  define  it  ?  This 
institution  may  be  defined  as  a  community  of  indi- 
viduals organized  for  the  purposes  of  government. 
"It  comes  into  existence  when  the  relations  of  con- 
trol over  and  obedience  from  the  individual  person 
are  established."2  The  very  essence  of  the  state  is 
its  law-giving  power;  this  is  known  as  its  sovereign 
power.  Now  the  difference  between  the  various 
forms  of  government,  monarchy,  democracy,  and  so 

'Leacock  :  Elements  of  Political  Science,  p.  53. 


180  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

on,  lies  in  the  different  location  of  the  sovereignty. 
For  our  purposes  it  is  sufficient  to  say  that  in  a  dem- 
ocracy the  locus  of  sovereignty  is  in  the  people  them- 
selves. This  sovereign  power  in  a  democracy  is  ex- 
erted through  the  franchise.  And  whether  it  be  a 
pure  democracy  or  a  representative  form  of  govern- 
ment the  sovereign  power  resides  in  the  people  so 
long  as  they  control  the  politics  of  the  government 
through  the  franchise. 

Now  the  essential  functions  of  the  state  as  a  sov- 
ereign power  are  three:3  (1)  governmental,  includ- 
ing the  determination  of  foreign  relations,  treaties, 
arbitration,  diplomacy,  and  internal  legislation  and 
administration;  (2)  financial;  (3)  military.  Besides 
these  essential  functions  of  the  state,  there  are  cer- 
tain other  optional  enterprises,  such  as  the  manage- 
ment and  control  of  trusts,  railroads,  natural  re- 
sources, legislation  regarding  labor,  provision  for 
education,  public  charities,  and  sanitation  and 
health. 

Individual  rights. — Before  we  take  up  for  discus- 
sion the  specific  problems  centering  in  the  exercise 
of  the  franchise  let  us  look  at  the  question  from  the 
point  of  view  of  the  individual  and  consider  these 
additional  problems  along  with  the  others.  It  is 
customary  in  books  on  political  science  to  set  the 
liberty  of  the  individual  over  against  the  sover- 
eignty of  the  state  and  to  discuss  them  in  relation  to 

'Ibid :  p.  393. 


THE   CRITERION   APPLIED:     THE   STATE.  181 

each  other.  It  would  seem  at  first  sight  that  the  two 
factors,  the  sovereign  power  of  the  state  and  indi- 
vidual liberty,  are  mutually  exclusive  and  incompat- 
ible. But  this  is  not  the  case,  because  the  state  rec- 
ognizes and  undertakes  to  guarantee  the  validity 
of  certain  so-called  rights  in  the  individual.  In  a 
democracy  these  rights  are  of  two  kinds:  political 
and  civil.  The  political  right  of  the  individual  is 
the  right  of  franchise.  Of  the  civil  rights  which  cen- 
ter in  the  use  of  the  courts,  the  right  to  sue  and  be 
sued,  there  are,  freedom  of  person,  equality  before 
the  law,  security  of  private  property,  freedom  of 
opinion  and  speech,  and  freedom  of  conscience.4  It 
will  be  seen  at  a  glance  that  there  are  many  ques- 
tions of  moral  significance  centering  in  these  rights. 

III.     MORAL    PROBLEMS. 

In  taking  up  the  ethical  problems  peculiar  to  the 
state,  let  us  constantly  bear  in  mind  this  general 
question:  What  is  the  relation  of  the  state  in  its 
various  aspects  to  the  development  of  socialized  per- 
sonality and  a  socialized  conscience!  Many  of  the 
things  here  considered  may  not  seem  at  first  to  have 
much  relation  to  morality.  Yet  if  we  take  the  trou- 
ble to  get  back  to  this  fundamental  question,  the  re- 
lation will  at  once  become  apparent. 

International  relations. — In  a  previous  paragraph, 
as  the  essential  functions  of  the  state  were  mentioned 


*Gettell:  Introduction  to  Political  Science,  p.  115. 


182  THE   SOCIALIZED    CONSCIENCE. 

the  governmental,  the  financial,  and  the  military. 
Under  the  first  come  the  questions  of  foreign  rela- 
tions and  internal  legislation.  For  our  purposes  it 
will  be  convenient  to  consider  briefly  the  question 
of  foreign  relations  and  the  military  function  to- 
gether. In  the  matter  of  arbitration,  the  whole 
weight  of  the  ethical  argument  falls  entirely  upon 
the  side  of  the  arbitration  of  all  possible  interna- 
tional differences  and  the  reference  of  these  to  an 
international  court  of  justice.  The  question  has  re- 
ceived such  widespread  discussion  in  the  press  and 
elsewhere  recently  that  it  is  unnecessary  to  review 
the  arguments  here. 

In  like  manner  the  weight  of  the  argument  regard- 
ing the  question  of  maintaining  an  army  and  navy 
is  entirely  against  such  a  policy.  The  injustice  oc- 
casioned by  this  vast  burden  is  entirely  wrong.  No 
one  could  successfully  argue  for  a  moment  that  mili- 
tarism makes  for  socialized  personality  in  the  person 
of  any  one.  And  "the  argument  that  war  is  neces- 
sary to  prevent  moral  degeneration  of  individuals 
may,  under  present  conditions,  where  every  day 
brings  its  fresh  challenge  to  civic  initiative,  courage, 
and  vigor,  be  dismissed  as  unmitigated  nonsense."6 

Indeed  the  only  argument  against  disarmament 
and  universal  arbitration  which  is  at  all  deserving 
of  consideration  at  the  hands  of  thoughtful  men  is 
the  so-called  inexpediency  and  impracticability  of 

'Pewey  and  Tufts :  Ethics,  p.  482, 


THE   CBITEBION   APPLIED:     THE   STATE.  183 

such  a  policy.  And  yet  "it  is  a  very  slight  stop  to 
take  forward  compared  to  that  which  has  substi- 
tuted the  authority  of  national  States  for  the  conflict 
of  isolated  clans  and  local  communities;  or  with 
that  which  has  established  a  publicly  administered 
justice  for  the  reign  of  private  war  and  retaliation. 
The  argument  for  the  necessity  (short  of  the  attain- 
ment of  a  federated  international  state  with  univer- 
sal authority  and  policing  of  the  seas)  of  preparing 
in  times  of  peace  for  the  possibility  of  war,  must  be 
offset  at  least  by  recognition  that  the  possession  of 
irresponsible  power  is  a  direct  temptation  to  its  irre- 
sponsible use. ' "  The  moral  ideal  of  a  socialized  so- 
ciety must  wait  for  its  realization  upon  the  disarma- 
ment of  the  nations  and  the  substitution  of  a  univer- 
sal peace  based  upon  unlimited  arbitration.  In  the 
meantime  the  moral  obligation  rests  upon  every  en- 
lightened member  of  society  to  lend  his  influence 
towards  the  accomplishment  of  these  things.  The 
person  who  through  indifference  or  on  the  basis  of 
a  false  logic  withholds  his  influence  from  this  end  is 
lacking  to  that  extent  in  a  socialized  conscience. 

Internal  legislation. — The  moral  problems  in  con- 
nection with  internal  legislation  and  administration 
are  indeed  legion.  The  business  of  legislation  is 
carried  on  in  our  country  by  means  of  the  party  sys- 
tem. During  the  decades  in  which  the  rank  and  file 
of  our  countrymen  have  been  engrossed  in  the  eco- 

•Ibld;  p.  482. 


184  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

nomic  process  of  industrial  and  commercial  expan- 
sion, there  has  grown  up  a  system  of  "  machine 
politics"  in  which  the  "boss"  has  been  supreme. 
The  fact  that  the  great  majority  have  been  inter- 
ested in  other  things  has  given  opportunity  for  a 
class  of  professional  politicians  to  rise  up  and  take 
possession  of  the  land;  and  since  they  make  a  busi- 
ness of  politics  and  expect  to  get  all  out  of  it  that  is 
possible,  a  great  number  of  flagrant  abuses  have 
grown  up. 

The  "boss." — The  professional  politician,  all  the 
way  down  from  the  national  boss  to  the  "ward 
heeler,"  has  in  many  instances  been  personally  in- 
terested, on  the  one  hand,  in  financial  enterprises 
and  has  used  his  political  power  to  further  his  own 
ends ;  on  the  other  hand,  he  has  been  in  league  with 
the  various  forms  of  organized  vice  and  has  derived 
revenue  therefrom.  This  acquisition  of  money,  posi- 
tion, and  power  by  taking  advantage  of  a  public 
office  or  trust  is  one  of  the  chief  forms  of  "graft." 
And  it  has  been  one  of  our  greatest  national  sins  that 
we  have  been  willing  to  sit  by  and  let  this  evil  de- 
velop to  its  present  appalling  state.  The  boss  has 
appealed  to  a  false  patriotism  in  the  name  of  party 
regularity  and  party  loyalty,  and  has  been  enabled 
thereby  to  write  the  party  slate  and  to  dictate  the 
legislative  measures  that  shall  be  passed. 

Under  these  conditions  "government"  has  degen- 
erated, it  sometimes  seems,  into  nothing  more  nor 
less  than  a  process  of  barter  and  trade  between  the 


THE   CBITEBION   APPLIED:     THE   STATE.  185 

'interests,'  the  professional  politician,  and  organized 
vice.  This  is  a  grave  charge  to  bring  against  a  gov- 
ernment "of  the  people,  by  the  people,  and  for  the 
people,"  as  ours  is  designed  to  be;  and  we  must  re- 
member that  there  have  always  been  honest  and  con- 
scientious representatives  of  the  people.  But  they 
have  been  exceptions  standing  out  in  contrast  to  a 
system  in  which  the  boss,  the  "pork-barrel,"  and 
"log-rolling"  have  been  the  rule.  Yet  we  may  re- 
member with  satisfaction  that  the  past  few  years 
have  brought  the  promise  of  ultimate  deliverance 
from  these  abuses,  because  the  public  conscience  is 
becoming  aroused  upon  these  matters. 

It  is  a  moral  and  social  misfortune,  to  say  the  least, 
that  our  government  should  in  any  way  lend  its 
sanction  to  any  form  of  vice.  For  example,  it  is  a 
governmental  blunder,  judged  by  any  adequate 
standard  of  the  function  of  government,  that  the  lat- 
ter should  license  one  set  of  men  to  carry  on  an  en- 
terprise which  damns  the  bodies  and  souls  of  others, 
as  does  the  liquor  business.  Likewise  it  is  a  travesty 
upon  morality,  that  while  the  government  does  not 
issue  a  license  to  carry  on  such  forms  of  vice,  it 
nevertheless  winks  at,  or  at  best  tries  to  "regulate" 
prostitution  and  gambling  instead  of  doing  its  ut- 
most to  stamp  them  out.  Indeed  it  connives  at  these 
same  vices  in  many  instances,  by  accepting  bribes 
and  immunity  fees. 

Administration  of  the  law. — Before  we  take  up 
the  question  of  the  moral  significance  of  these  facts, 


186  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

let  us  look  at  one  other  aspect  of  the  question: 
namely,  the  problem  of  the  administration  of  the 
law.     From  the  layman's  point  of  view  there  is 
urgent  need  for  greater  simplicity  and  greater  dis- 
patch in  legal  procedure.    This  is  particularly  true 
in  the  realm  of  criminal  law.    Legal  form  is  need- 
lessly complex  and  cumbersome.  Furthermore,  there 
is  too  great  attention  paid  to  form,  to  the  technical 
points  of  the  law,  so  that  justice  is  often  made  a  sec- 
ondary matter;  and  a  trial  is  more  often  a  battle  of 
wits  between  opposing  counsel  than  an  attempt  to 
determine  and  execute  justice.   Here  is  an  example 
of  an  indictment :    * '  That  the  said  J.  F.  G.  a  certain 
pistol  then  and  there  charged  with  gunpower  and 
leaden  bullets,  which  said  pistol  he,  the  said  J.  F.  GK 
then  and  there  in  his  right  hand  had  and  held,  then 
and  there  unlawfully,  purposely  and  of  deliberate 
and  premeditated  malice,  did  discharge  and  shoot 
off  to,  against  and  upon  the  said  F.  M.,  with  the  in- 
tent aforesaid,  and  that  the  said  J.  F.  G.  with  the 
leaden  bullets  aforesaid,  out  of  the  pistol  aforesaid, 
by  the  force  of  the  gunpowder  aforesaid,  by  the  said 
J.  F.  Gr.,  then  and  there  discharged  and  shot  off  as 
aforesaid,  him,  the  said  F.  M.  in  and  upon  the  upper 
right  side  of  the  back  of  him,  the  said  F.  M.  then  and 
there "  etc.    Now  to  say  nothing  of  the  absurd- 
ity of  a  legal  form  such  as  this,  is  it  any  wonder  that 
" technical  errors"  creep  into  an  instrument  so  well 
designed  for  the  veiling  of  human  thought  as  this? 
Jf  the  mere  absurdity  of  it  were  all,  there  would  be 


THE   CBITEBION   APPLIED:     THE   STATE.  187 

no  particular  moral  significance  in  the  situation. 
But  when  we  remember  that  a  mere  verbal  omission 
— a  " technicality" — is  often  sufficient  to  cause  a 
conviction  to  be  set  aside,  then  the  matter  becomes  a 
travesty  upon  justice.  Under  such  conditions  as 
these  the  proper  end  of  law — justice — is  pushed 
aside  and  forgotten,  and  the  " majesty  of  the  law" 
becomes  a  byword ! 

Again,  the  state  holds  a  man  to  be  innocent  until 
he  has  been  proved  guilty;  and  further,  every  pris- 
oner is  supposed  to  have  the  right  to  a  trial  before  a 
jury  of  his  peers.  But  is  it  consistent  with  these  arti- 
cles of  faith  that  a  man  may  be  arrested  upon  suspi- 
cion and  imprisoned  and  his  case  not  be  brought  to 
trial  for  from  six  months  to  two  years  after  the  sup- 
posed offence  was  committed?  It  is  no  uncommon 
thing  for  a  court  docket  to  be  so  full  as  to  delay  a 
case  for  a  period  of  this  length.  Now  if  legal  proce- 
dure were  simple  and  direct,  there  would  be  no 
necessity  for  these  long  delays;  justice  could  be 
meted  out  surely  and  swiftly.  This  would  be  for  the 
good  of  both  the  criminal  and  society.  On  the  one 
hand,  the  prisoner,  if  innocent,  would  be  relieved  of 
the  stigma  and  the  injustice  which  attach  to  his  in- 
dictment; on  the  other  hand,  greater  sureness  and 
swiftness  in  the  matter  of  meting  out  justice  would 
be  a  strong  deterrent  to  the  criminal,  and  society 
would  thereby  be  the  gainer. 

The  moral  influence  of  legal  inefficiency. — Now, 
what  is  the  moral  significance  of  these  facts?  It  is 


188  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

obvious  that  these  abuses,  one  and  all,  whether 
through  the  boss  system,  graft,  partnership  in  social 
evil,  or  administrative  inefficiency,  produce  the  very 
conditions  which  are  most  unfavorable  to  the  growth 
of  socialized  personality.  It  will  be  sufficient  to 
make  this  concrete  by  reference  to  one  or  two  of  the 
conditions  mentioned.  Take,  for  example,  those  in- 
stances in  which  the  public  welfare  is  sacrificed  in 
order  that  the  party  machine  may  be  perpetuated 
and  strengthened ;  or  the  case  in  which  a  representa- 
tive of  the  people  uses  his  vote  and  his  influence  to 
secure  the  passage  of  some  measure  which  is  favor- 
able to  some  "interest,"  for  the  sake  of  his  own  per- 
sonal aggrandizement.  These  acts  lessen,  either 
directly  or  indirectly,  the  opportunity  for  life  and 
growth  of  those  whom  the  agent  is  supposed  to  rep- 
resent. If  a  representative  or  a  city  councilman  ac- 
cepts a  bribe  for  his  vote,  some  one  will  have  to  pay 
the  price  of  the  bribe.  In  the  long  run  the  "ultimate 
consumer"  must  pay  the  price  of  all  abuses  which 
have  been  mentioned.  The  currency  in  which  he 
pays  may  be  money  or  opportunity  or  protection  or 
indeed  any  and  all  of  the  means  of  personality  and 
happiness.  His  share  of  the  total  cost  may  be  large 
or  small;  but  he  inevitably  has  some  share  in  it. 
The  injustice  involved  in  these  abuses  reaches  to 
every  member  of  society;  and  every  abuse  levies  its 
toll  upon  all  members. 

The  locus  of  responsibility. — Now  let  us  consider 
the  obverse  of  the  subject.  In  a  foregoing  paragraph 


THE   OBITEBION   APPLIED:     THE   STATE.  189 

the  statement  was  made  that  the  essence  of  the  state 
lies  in  its  sovereign  power ;  furthermore,  this  power 
is  located  in  the  people  themselves  in  a  democratic 
form  of  government.  The  ethical  implication  of 
these  statements  is  that  the  remedy  of  these  abuses 
lies  in  the  hands  of  the  people  themselves.  This  is 
a  mere  platitude;  every  one  is  already  aware  of  the 
fact.  But  it  may  not  be  quite  so  commonplace  to  in- 
sist that  any  one  who  fails  to  use  this  sovereign 
power  which  is  vested  in  him  for  the  common  good 
is  immoral.  The  moral  standard  demands  that  one 
shall  use  the  franchise  intelligently,  with  purpose, 
prudence,  good-will,  and  in  the  interest  of  common 
justice.  The  ballot  represents  not  merely  an  oppor- 
tunity to  fight  political  corruption,  graft,  dishonesty, 
and  injustice,  but  it  also  represents  a  positive  moral 
obligation,  a  social  duty.  The  function  of  the  state 
is  to  provide  a  healthful  social  environment  in  which 
personality  may  grow.  But  this  condition  can  be 
realized  only  as  each  member  of  society  in  whom  is 
vested  the  sovereign  power,  performs  his  political 
duty  in  accordance  with  the  dictates  of  the  socialized 
conscience.  And  this  means  every  one;  the  needed 
reform  cannot  be  brought  about  by  a  few  zealous 
souls  here  and  there.  It  is  a  case  in  which  the  coop- 
eration of  all  is  an  absolute  necessity. 

Crime. — There  are  a  few  problems  in  connection 
with  crime  that  should  be  briefly  considered  at  this 
point.  Crime,  as  legally  defined,  is  "  an  act  or  omis- 
sion forbidden  by  law,  and  punishable  upon  convic- 


190  THE   SOCIALIZED  CONSCIENCE. 

tion. ' '  Crime  is,  with  few  exceptions,  flagrantly  im- 
moral ;  and  the  interests  of  morality  demand  that  it 
should  be  done  away  with.  Yet  we  are  confronted 
by  the  appalling  fact  that  in  our  country  crime  is  on 
the  increase.  But  it  is  not  our  purpose  here  to  try 
to  find  the  reasons  for  this  deplorable  condition, 
except  in  so  far  as  they  bear  upon  the  prevention  of 
crime. 

In  the  first  place,  many  persons  are  driven  into 
criminal  practices  through  economic  necessity.  The 
maladjustments  in  the  economic  and  educational 
systems  must  share  the  blame  for  this  portion  of 
crime.  The  moral  demand  is,  as  has  been  pointed 
out  in  Chapters  V  and  VI,  that  there  shall  be  a  re- 
organization of  such  a  nature  that  every  one  will 
have  a  chance,  and  will  at  the  same  time  be  better 
fitted  educationally  to  make  the  most  of  it.  When 
this  reorganization  shall  have  been  effected,  that 
portion  of  crime  which  arises  out  of  necessity  will 
no  longer  exist. 

In  the  second  place,  surer  and  swifter  punishment 
would  be  a  powerful  deterrent  to  criminals.  Refer- 
ence has  already  been  made  to  the  delay  in  the  ad- 
ministration of  justice  and  to  the  total  perversion 
of  it  through  technical  evasions.  Indeed  it  is  said 
that  in  a  certain  county,  out  of  one  hundred  murder 
cases  only  four  murderers  were  brought  to  justice. 
As  long  as  it  is  comparatively  so  safe  to  commit 
crime  there  will  not  be  wanting  those  who  practice  it. 

In  the  third  place,  the  treatment  of  the  criminal 


THE   CRITEBION   APPLIED:     THE   STATE.  191 

himself  is  an  extremely  important  question.     We 
are  rapidly  growing  away — and  rightly  so — from 
the  idea  that  punishment  is  the  process  of  getting 
even  with  the  criminal.    Punishment,  if  it  is  to  per- 
form its  full  and  proper  function  in  the  state,  must 
be  corrective,  not  vindictive.     Probably  the  great 
majority  of  criminals  would,  under  favorable  condi- 
tions, have  been  normal  citizens.    It  must  come  to 
be  the  policy  of  society  first,  to  prevent  the  making 
of  criminals  by  abolishing  those  conditions  which 
cause  crime;  and  second,  to  educate  and  train  the 
criminal  back  into  the  life  of  a  normal  and  useful 
citizen.    With  regard  to  this  ' '  it  would  seem  evident 
that  the  trend  of  change  is  in  the  general  sociologi- 
cal direction  of  making  a  system  of  industrial  labor 
and  education,  with  disciplinary  colonies,  and  the 
permanent  segregation  of  the  most  vicious,  so  as  to 
secure  the  elimination  of  their  stock.     .     .     .     So- 
ciety must  not  only  handle  its  criminals  wisely;  it 
must  also  rearrange  its  manner  of  life  so  as  to  stop 
the  manufacture,  as  it  were,  of  a  vicious  popula- 
tion."7 

Taxation. — The  problems  of  taxation  are  so  many 
and  so  intricate  that  our  statement  of  them  will  of 
necessity  be  very  general.  The  fact  that  should  chal- 
lenge our  thoughtful  attention  is  that  while  "citizens 
should  contribute  towards  the  support  of  govern- 
ment as  nearly  as  possible  in  proportion  to  their  re- 


TDealey  :  Sociology,  p.  311. 


192  THE   SOCIALIZED  CONSCIENCE. 

spective  abilities, ' '  this  is  not  done.  Those  who  are 
best  able  to  do  so  are,  as  a  general  rule,  those  who 
contribute  proportionately  the  least  towards  the  sup- 
port of  government.  From  the  social  point  of  view 
the  greatest  need  is  some  just  and  workable  plan  of 
taxation.  Under  present  conditions,  where  so  large 
a  portion  of  the  wealth  of  the  country  consists  of 
stocks,  bonds,  and  the  like,  it  is  next  to  impossible 
to  get  a  true  valuation  of  a  man's  property,  if  he 
desires  to  withhold  the  information;  it  is  so  easy  to 
withhold  a  portion  of  the  personal  property  that  it 
has  become  a  very  common  thing  to  do  so. 

The  same  injustice  is  equally  discernible  in  the 
realm  of  what  is  known  as  indirect  taxation:  cus- 
toms duties,  excises,  or  internal  revenues.  The  bulk 
of  the  taxes  from  these  sources  comes  from  those 
commodities  which  are  the  necessities  of  life;  they 
are  levied  upon  the  poor  as  well  as  the  rich.  Indeed 
the  greater  amount  comes  out  of  the  poor  man's 
pocket,  proportionately,  because  practically  all  of 
his  income  must  go  for  these  very  things.  But  worse 
than  this  injustice  in  the  distribution  of  these  indi- 
rect taxes  is  the  fact  that  the  money  thus  collected 
has  not  in  all  cases  gone  into  the  hands  of  th§  gov- 
ernment, but  has  been  diverted  into  the  pockets  of 
the  " infant  industries."  Under  the  slogan  of  ''pro- 
tection for  our  infant  industries,"  we  have  in  the 
past  allowed  a  system  of  tariffs  to  be  built  up  at  the 
dictation  of  these  same  industries,  which  enabled  the 
latter  to  become  almost  as  mighty  as  the  government 


THE  OBITEBION  APPLIED:     THE   STATE.  193 

itself.  The  injustice  of  the  case  is  doubly  great. 
The  bare  fact  of  inequality  in  the  matter  of  taxation 
would  be  bad  enough  in  itself;  but  it  is  doubly  wrong 
that  the  money  thus  unjustly  taken  from  those  who 
are  least  able  to  pay,  should  have  come  eventually 
into  the  hands  of  corporations  and  trusts  instead  of 
going  into  the  treasury  of  the  government,  as  in- 
tended. And  while  we  are  now  attempting  to  mend 
matters  by  lowering  the  tariff,  it  will  probably  re- 
quire years  to  overcome  the  precedents  of  the  past 
and  to  check  the  momentum  of  high  prices  so  long  as 
the  present  machinery  of  taxation  is  used,  if  indeed 
it  can  be  accomplished  at  all. 

The  difficulty  then  is  with  the  plan  and  machinery 
of  taxation.  What  is  desired  from  the  moral  point 
of  view,  is  a  scheme  in  which  absolute  justice  shall 
prevail.  Until  this  has  been  accomplished,  the  op- 
portunity of  a  vast  number  of  the  members  of  so- 
ciety to  satisfy  those  wants  which  make  for  the  de- 
velopment of  the  higher  self  will  be  withheld.  So 
far  as  they  are  deprived  of  the  means  of  life,  is  their 
life  itself  taken. 

Personal  duty. — But  let  us  also  look  at  the  ques- 
tion from  the  point  of  view  of  the  individual.  The 
moral  obligation  upon  each  person  is  two-fold.  In 
the  first  place,  it  is  the  moral  duty  of  each  one  so  to 
use  the  franchise  as  to  help  work  out  a  just  and 
equitable  system  of  taxation.  This  means  that  each 
one  shall  take  an  intelligent  and  thoughtful  interest 
in  the  problem,  and  that  he  shall  use  his  influence 


194  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

towards  a  rational  solution  of  it.  In  the  second 
place,  there  rests  upon  each  one  the  moral  duty  of 
reporting  faithfully  and  honestly  the  value  of  his 
taxable  property.  It  is  a  fact  that  "  taxpayers  are 
so  slow  in  coming  forward  with  a  full  and  fair  ac- 
count of  their  stocks  and  bonds  (and  indeed  all 
their  property)  that  those  who  do  so  are  often  re- 
garded as  good-natured  oddities."8  Probably  the 
consciences  of  these  same  men  would  not  allow  them 
to  cheat  a  customer  or  tell  a  falsehood;  and  yet  they 
feel  no  compunction  at  lying  to  and  cheating  the 
government.  Truly  our  consciences  need  re-enlight- 
ening and  socializing.  He  who  is  guilty  of  these 
practices  cannot  lay  claim  to  a  socialized  conscience, 
inasmuch  as  he  is  dealing  unjustly  with  the  other 
members  of  society. 

The  franchise. — As  has  been  said  before,  the  poli- 
tical right  of  the  individual  is  exercised  through  the 
franchise.  It  is  the  prerogative  of  the  individual,  in 
a  representative  form  of  government  such  as  ours, 
to  demand  that  he  be  fairly  and  honestly  repre- 
sented. In  other  words,  he  has  the  right  to  expect 
that  his  vote  shall  accomplish  that  which  it  was  in- 
tended to  accomplish.  It  is  a  source  of  great  injus- 
tice when  the  representative  of  the  people,  when  once 
elected,  uses  the  power  of  office  for  his  own  ends; 
and  this  has  been  no  uncommon  kind  of  moral  wrong. 
Happily,  however,  the  public  conscience  is  being 


•Forman:  Advanced  Civics,  p.  300. 


THE   CBITEBION   APPLIED:     THE   STATE.  195 

aroused  with  regard  to  this  injustice,  and  there  is  a 
popular  demand  for  representation  in  fact  as  well  as 
in  name.  This  demand  we  find  expressed  in  the  form 
of  initiative  and  referendum  and  recall.  From  the 
point  of  view  of  political  science  there  may  be  a 
question  whether  these  innovations  are  in  harmony 
with  sound  principles  of  government;  but  there  can 
be  no  question  as  to  the  justice  and  moral  right 
behind  the  demand  for  these  things. 

The  moral  obligation  resting  upon  the  individual 
with  respect  to  the  franchise  has  already  been  sug- 
gested; but  the  importance  of  the  matter  will  war- 
rant its  repetition  at  this  point.  The  man  who  sells 
his  vote  for  money,  a  glass  of  beer,  a  cigar,  or  an 
automobile  ride  sells  his  birth-right  to  political 
and  civil  liberty  for  a  mess  of  pottage.  Furthermore, 
the  one  who  is  content  to  let  some  one  else  do  his 
political  thinking  for  him,  and  who  votes  the  ticket 
"straight"  for  the  sake  of  "party  regularity"  or 
through  mere  habit,  is  almost  as  morally  blame- 
worthy as  the  one  who  deliberately  sells  his  vote  for 
a  bribe.  The  moral  law  will  not  be  satisfied  in  this 
matter  short  of  a  thoughtful  consideration  of  the 
social  ends  that  ought  to  be  realized  by  the  vote. 
This  means  that  each  one  shall  think  for  himself 
and  make  his  ballot  express  the  deliverance  of  his 
conscience  upon  the  matters  under  consideration. 

Suffrage. — One  other  point  with  regard  to  this 
matter  of  the  franchise  demands  brief  consideration: 
namely,  the  question  of  woman's  suffrage.  So  far 


196  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

as  the  criterion  of  morality  as  applied  to  the  state 
is  concerned,  there  seems  to  be  no  moral  justification 
for  letting  one  half  of  the  people  do  the  political 
thinking  for  the  other  half.  Indeed,  the  criterion 
unmistakably  points  to  the  conclusion  that  common 
justice  would  not  make  the  matter  of  sex  the  de- 
termining basis  of  the  franchise.  To  put  the  matter 
positively,  the  moral  criterion  would  place  but  one 
condition  upon  the  right  to  vote,  and  that  would  be 
that  which  constitutes  the  basis  of  a  socialized  con- 
science— intelligence.  The  one  absolute  condition 
of  a  successful  democracy  is  the  intelligence  of  its 
sovereign  power,  the  people.  And  it  is  absurdly  un- 
just that  any  male  member  of  society,  no  matter  how 
illiterate,  may  exercise  the  right  to  vote,  while  no 
female  member  of  society,  no  matter  how  intelligent 
and  capable,  may  exercise  this  right. 

Universal  suffrage  of  all  adult  citizens  would  be 
the  moral  ideal  in  the  matter  of  the  franchise.  But 
this  universal  suffrage  would  be  based  upon  a  uni- 
versal intelligence  of  a  certain  standard.  And  until 
the  time  shall  come  when  intelligence  shall  be- 
come universal,  the  franchise  should  be  denied  only 
to  those  who  fail  to  measure  up  to  a  reasonable 
standard  in  this  regard,  be  they  male  or  female.  The 
time  is  no  doubt  near  at  hand  when  this  criterion 
will  be  universally  recognized  in  our  country.  It  is 
a  significant  fact  in  this  connection  that  several  of 
our  western  states  have  already  adopted  it  in  so  far 
as  it  involves  woman's  suffrage. 


THE   CEITEBION   APPLIED:     THE   STATE.  197 

The  moral  demand  for  equality  before  the  law. — 
We  will  not  stop  to  consider  the  moral  questions 
which  arise  in  connection  with  all  of  the  so-called 
civil  rights  of  the  individual,  but  will  limit  our  at- 
tention to  one.  It  is  a  fundamental  article  of  our 
faith  as  a  democracy  that  every  citizen  is  on  an 
equality  with  every  other  before  the  law.  And  it  is 
obvious  that  this  should  be  so  as  a  moral  fact.  But 
it  is  a  deplorable  fact  that  when  it  comes  to  the  prac- 
tical question  of  getting  justice  there  is  one  class  of 
persons  which  has  a  decided  advantage  over  others. 
For  example,  suppose  a  laboring  man  receives  an 
injury  or  is  killed  because  of  the  criminal  negligence 
of  the  corporation  for  which  he  is  working.  It  is  a 
matter  of  common  knowledge  that  he  or  his  family 
stand  hardly  any  chance  of  getting  just  damages. 
If  they  do  get  their  rights,  it  is  probably  more  on 
account  of  the  generosity  of  the  company  than  be- 
cause of  the  justice  with  which  the  matter  is  handled 
in  the  courts. 

Or  suppose  it  is  a  case  of  murder  in  which  the  de- 
fendant is  a  millionaire.  It  is  a  part  of  the  equip- 
ment of  the  criminal  lawyer  that  he  shall  have  at  his 
command  an  endless  program  of  devices  by  which 
he  may  secure  a  postponement  of  the  trial,  the  de- 
barring of  unfavorable  evidence,  a  new  trial,  or  a 
reversal  of  judgment,  and  indeed  any  and  every- 
thing which  will  gain  for  himself  success  and  for  his 
wealthy  client  liberty.  Contrast  this  with  the  im- 


198  THE    SOCIALIZED    CONSCIENCE. 

personal  process  of  law  in  the  case  of  a  pauper 
criminal. 

This  condition  of  affairs  is  criminally  wrong~  The 
influence  of  such  injustice  upon  the  individual  con- 
cerned is  obvious.  But  it  indirectly  affects  all  other 
members  of  society  as  surely  as  it  does  those  most 
directly  concerned.  It  is  the  moral  duty  of  every 
socially  minded  person  to  cooperate  with  all  the 
other  members  of  society  in  making  this  kind  of  sit- 
uation impossible  and  in  ushering  in  the  time  when 
all  men  shall  be  equal  before  the  law  in  fact,  as  well 
as  in  name. 

TV.    PEESONAL    DUTY. 

Distrust  of  government. — All  these  abuses  and 
cases  of  injustice  and  many  besides  have  operated 
to  produce  a  sort  of  popular  distrust  of  government ; 
and  even  when  men  do  not  actually  distrust  it  they 
are  often  indifferent  to  the  problems  and  processes 
of  government.  They  become  so  engrossed  in  their 
own  concerns  that  they  are  willing  to  turn  the  mat- 
ter of  government  over  to  the  professional  politician, 
and  take  an  active  interest  in  affairs  of  state  only 
when  some  abuse  comes  so  close  to  them  as  to  touch 
their  pocketbooks. 

Both  of  these  attitudes  are  morally  indefensible. 
With  regard  to  the  first  attitude,  "one  of  the  chief 
moral  problems  of  the  present  day  is  ...  that  of 
making  governmental  machinery  such  a  flexible  or- 


THE   CBITEBION   APPLIED:     THE   STATE.  199 

gan  for  expressing  the  common  interest  and  purpose 
as  will  do  away  with  that  distrust  of  government 
which  properly  must  endure  so  long  as  'government* 
is  something  imposed  from  above  and  exercised  from 
without. '  '8  And  this  condition  can  be  brought  about 
only  as  the  members  of  society  individually  take 
hold  of  affairs  and  cooperate  in  handling  them.  Of 
course  there  have  been  abuses  and  injustice;  and 
they  will  continue  to  exist  until  honest  and  just  men 
insist  upon  taking  the  reins  of  government  in  their 
own  hands.  As  long  as  those  who  are  best  fitted  to 
perform  these  social  duties  with  honesty  and  justice 
hold  themselves  aloof  from  politics  because  of  its 
badness,  there  is  little  hope  for  betterment.  "The 
saying  of  Plato,  twenty-five  hundred  years  ago,  that 
the  penalty  good  men  pay  for  not  being  interested  in 
government  is  that  they  are  then  ruled  by  men  worse 
than  themselves,  is  verified  in  most  of  our  American 
cities."10 

Conclusion. — In  conclusion  let  us  bear  in  mind 
that  in  our  modern  corporate  life,  the  moral  situa- 
tions in  which  the  moral  life  is  lived  arise  in  just 
such  relations  as  we  have  been  considering.  We 
talk  of  the  moral  life  in  the  abstract  and  are  apt  to 
think  of  it  as  some  celestial  plant  which  grows  and 
thrives  upon  beautiful  sentiments.  But  we  must 
bring  ourselves  to  face  the  fact  that  it  is  just  such 
situations  as  we  have  been  discussing  that  make  up 


•Dewey  and  Tufts :  Ethics,  p.  476. 


200  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

the  fabric  of  morality.  Let  us  insist  that  it  is  the 
duty  of  every  person  to  order  his  own  life  in  accord- 
ance with  the  principles  of  the  socialized  conscience; 
and  that  in  so  doing  he  is  helping  to  create  that 
wholesome  social  environment  which  is  so  essential 
to  the  development  of  socialized  personality  in  all 
the  members  of  society.  Only  by  thus  intelligently 
cooperating  can  the  members  of  society,  as  organized 
for  the  purpose  of  government,  bring  about  that 
condition  in  which  the  latter  shall  perform  its  whole 
function:  namely,  to  maintain  a  wholesome  and 
healthful  social  soil  in  which  moral  character  and 
personal  worth  shall  reach  their  highest  social  value. 

QUESTIONS  AND  TOPICS  FOR  FURTHER  STUDY. 

1.  What  are  the  social  conditions  which  are  necessary 
to  complete  self  realization? 

2.  Does  morality  demand  a  justice  above  and  beyond 
that  given  by  the  state?    Give  concrete  illustrations. 

3.  Show   the   moral   injustice  involved  in  continual 
preparations  for  war.    Are  there  any  other  phases  of  this 
injustice  besides  the  financial  burden? 

4.  What  are  the  social  and  moral  qualities  necessary 
for  good  citizenship  ? 

5.  "We  suffer  from  the  bad  citizenship  of  good  men." 
In  what  respects  are  good  men  frequently  bad  citizens? 
Is  there  any  evidence  that  popular  indifference  to  govern- 
mental affairs  is  decreasing? 

6.  The  necessity  of  "social  experts"  has  sometimes 
been  urged  (See  Nearing:  Social  Adjustment,  p.  328  ff.) ; 
what  would  be  the  probable  field  for  their  operation,  and 
what  their  function  ? 

7.  Give  specific  instances  in  which  justice  has  appa- 


THE   CRITEBION   APPLIED:     THE   STATE.  201 

rently  been  thwarted  by  legal  technicalities.  Who  is  re- 
sponsible for  this  condition  of  affairs, — the  legal  profes- 
sion? 

8.  What  is  a  political  machine?    What  have  been  its 
functions?     Is  the  political  machine  necessary  to  our 
form  of  government? 

9.  Is  the  so-called  "boss  system"  simply  an  abuse  of  a 
desirable   governmental   method,   or   is   it   intrinsically 
wrong? 

10.  What  are  the  usual  sources  of  political  corrup- 
tion?   What  is  meant  by  "organized  vice"?    How  may 
this  factor  influence  the  processes  of  government? 

11.  What  are  the  chief  causes  of  crime?    What  method 
of  punishment  does  the  nature  of  the  causes  suggest? 
What  about  the  efficiency  of  the  ordinary  county  jail  as 
measured  by  the  true  purpose  of  punishment? 

12.  In  what  ways  may  immigration  affect  the  morals 
of  the  country?    Is  there  any  method  by  which  immigra- 
tion may  be  made  a  source  of  moral  strength  ? 

13.  Find  illustrations  of  the  substantial  denial  of  the 
fundamental  rights  of  life,  freedom,  and  education.    Who 
is  responsible  for  this  denial? 

REFERENCES. 

ON   THE  MORAL  PRINCIPLES   IN   CONNECTION  WITH   THE 
STATE. 

Mackenzie:  Manual  of  Ethics,  Bk.  Ill,  Ch.  II,  §§1-6. 
MacCunn :  The  Making  of  Character,  Pt.  II,  Ch.  VII. 
Wright :  Self  Realization,  pp.  389-406. 

ON  THE  MORAL  PROBLEMS  OF  THE  STATE. 
Dealey :  Sociology,  pp.  304-313. 
Dewey  and  Tufts :  Ethics,  Ch.  XXI. 
Gettell:  Political  Science,  p.  114  ff ;  130  ff. 
Hadley :  Standards  of  Public  Morality,  Ch.  IV,  V, 
Smith :  Social  Pathology,  p.  131  ff, 


CHAPTER   VlU. 

THE  CRITERION  APPLIED:    THE  CHUBCH. 
I.    PERSONALITY   AND    RELIGION. 

Complete  realization  of  the  social  self  involves 
religion. — We  have  seen  how  personality  begins  to 
grow  in  the  home;  how  its  growth  is  carried  on  in 
the  school ;  how  the  vocation  furnishes  the  materials 
which  satisfy  the  wants  of  the  individual  from  the 
time  of  infancy  on;  and  how  the  state  guarantees  a 
healthful  social  soil  in  which  personality  may  grow. 
We  have  also  pointed  out  the  special  moral  prob- 
lems in  connection  with  each  of  these  institutions, 
and  their  general  solution  in  terms  of  the  moral  cri- 
terion. Let  us  now,  in  like  manner,  point  out  the 
general  function  of  the  church  in  relation  to  the 
growth  of  personality,  showing  the  obligation  of  the 
church  to  society  and,  conversely,  the  obligation  of 
the  individual  to  the  church. 

Let  it  be  admitted  at  the  outset  that  no  "merely 
moral"  individual  has  reached  the  highest  level  of 
personality.  While  it  is  possible  for  a  man  to  order 
his  life  in  harmony  with  the  moral  law,  as  we  have 
thus  far  outlined  it,  without  a  religious  "experi- 
ence," yet  the  deepest  meaning  of  life  and  its  signi- 
ficance do  not  thus  come  to  him.  It  is  only  as  the  so- 


204  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

called  moral  life  is  completed  and  crowned  by  a  con- 
scious dependence  upon  and  relationship  with  the 
Divine,  that  life  takes  on  its  deepest  significance  and 
that  the  highest  level  of  personality  is  attained.  No 
person  is  truly  moral  in  the  large  sense  of  the  term 
who  is  lacking  in  a  vital  religious  life. 

The  nature  of  religion. — It  is  the  function  of  the 
church  to  foster  and  promote  religion,  both  as  an 
individual  experience  in  the  different  members  of 
society  and  as  a  living  social  force.  Before  we  can 
go  further  in  our  discussion  it  will  be  necessary  to 
make  a  general  statement  of  what  religion  is;  and 
we  will  do  best  to  limit  ourselves  to  the  essentials  of 
the  Christian  religion.  Accordingly,  there  are  two 
fundamental  elements;  these  are:  first,  a  belief  in 
and  a  feeling  of  dependence  upon  and  love  for  a  per- 
sonal God;  and  second,  a  dynamic  belief  in  the 
brotherhood  of  man,  resulting  in  social  service.  In 
Chapter  HI  reference  was  made  to  the  three-fold 
function  of  consciousness,  the  intellectual,  the  emo- 
tional, and  the  volitional,  and  to  the  fact  that  these 
furnish  the  elements  of  the  spiritual  environment. 
Looked  at  psychologically,  "we  mean  by  the  spirit, 
mind  in  its  relation  to  Deity,  and  by  educating  the 
spirit,  we  mean  bringing  man  in  his  integrity  into 
right  relation  to  God."1  Eeligion  is  not  something 
apart  from  the  thought  life,  or  the  life  of  feeling,  or 
of  action.  It  is  the  synthesis  of  all  of  these — the 


:  Psychological  Principles  of  Education,  p.  334. 


THE   CfclTEBION   APPLIED:     1HE   CHUfcCS.          205 

whole  consciousness  in  its  relation  to  God.  Religion 
is  a  way  of  living — "the  way  of  life" — not  object- 
ively alone,  but  subjectively  as  well.  It  involves  the 
subjective  intellectual  processes  of  faith  and  belief, 
and  the  emotional  process  of  love  for  God  and  man- 
kind ;  it  involves  the  volitional  process  of  willing  the 
good,  which  results  in  the  objective  side,  service. 

We  cannot  stop  here  to  show  why  men  do  and 
must,  if  consistent,  believe  in  God;  we  simply  call 
attention  to  the  almost  universal  fact  that  they  do 
and  feel  that  they  must.  Men  also  feel  that  they  are 
in  some  way  subject  to  the  will  of  God.  In  primitive 
forms  of  religion  this  feeling  manifested  itself  in 
fear  and  in  the  effort  to  appease  the  wrath  of  the 
gods  by  offerings  and  sacrifices;  but  in  the  highest 
of  all  religions — the  Christian  religion — this  feeling 
of  dependence  takes  the  form  of  a  personal  love  for 
God  who  is  thought  of  as  a  Father.  This  is  the  very 
heart  and  core  of  the  Christian  religion.  But  this 
love,  like  all  emotions,  must  find  expression  in  some 
way;  and  the  natural  and  normal  way  is  through 
worship  on  the  one  hand,  and  through  loving  service 
on  the  other.  Thus  it  is  that  religion  is  a  way  of 
living;  it  is  a  social  life  implying  relations  to  God 
and  mankind.  "It  is  not  reducible  to  one  of  the  ele- 
ments of  human  nature  as  its  basis,  but  writes  itself 
large  upon  human  life  in  its  integrity. ' '  It  expresses 
itself  in  the  whole  life,  both  individual  and  social. 


206  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

II.    DUTY  OP  THE  CHURCH  TO  SOCIETY. 

The  religion  of  the  churches  too  individualistic.— 
It  ought  to  be  the  function  of  the  church  to  cherish 
these  essential  truths,  to  foster  the  simple  virtues  of 
Christianity  and  to  promote  the  kingdom  of  heaven 
in  the  hearts  of  men  and  in  society.  But  unfortu- 
nately the  church  has  not  always  followed  these 
ideals  with  singleness  of  purpose;  and  as  a  result  it 
has  not  had  the  influence  upon  society  that  it  should 
have.  There  are  doubtless  many  reasons  for  this. 
For  one  thing,  the  church  has  in  the  past  preached 
an  individualistic  and  a  hedonistic  religion;  it  has 
taught  that  the  sole  purpose  of  religion  is  to  provide 
a  plan  by  which  the  individual  may  escape  everlast- 
ing punishment  and  gain  eternal  happiness.  It  has 
thus  reflected  the  spirit  of  individualism  which  has 
characterized  the  centuries  past  along  all  lines.  And 
society  has  come  to  feel  the  inadequacy  of  this  point 
of  view  in  religious  matters  as  in  all  others.  The 
church  has  not  met  the  vague  feeling  on  the  part  of 
society  that  religion  is  organic  to  the  mental  and 
social  life  of  the  people;  that  spiritual  life,  like  per- 
sonality, strikes  its  roots  deep  into  the  social  tissue 
as  well  as  into  the  eternal  life  of  God. 

Again,  religion  has  too  frequently  been  divorced 
from  the  give-and-take  of  life.  It  has  been  a  thing 
apart:  something  to  be  practiced  on  Sunday,  and  put 
aside  on  the  other  days  of  the  week.  The  reason  for 
this  misconception  is  that  the  teaching  has  been,  im- 


THE   CBITERION   APPLIED:     THE   CHUBOH.          207 

plicitly  at  least,  that  the  chief  function  of  religion  is 
to  prepare  one  for  death.  Now,  without  minimizing 
this  phase  of  it,  it  must  yet  be  admitted  that  to  a 
virile,  red-blooded  man  in  the  strength  of  youth  this 
is  not  as  strong  an  appeal  as  religion  can  and  ought 
to  make.  Only  by  being  identified  with  life  itself  can 
religion  get  hold  of  and  grip  men  in  a  large  way;  and 
only  as  the  social  phase  of  it  is  brought  to  the  fore  is 
it  seen  to  have  this  identity.  For  life  as  men  know  it 
in  the  home,  in  the  school,  in  the  market-place,  in 
the  state,  and  indeed  everywhere,  is  a  social  affair. 
The  church  as  the  institution  of  religion  must  relate 
the  latter  to  the  total  life  of  society  if  it  would  fulfill 
its  mission  in  the  world. 

Doctrinal  conflicts. — Another  reason  why  thechurch 
does  not  have  the  hold  upon  society  that  it  ought  to 
have  is  that  it  has  so  obscured  the  essentials  of  relig- 
ion by  wr anglings  and  petty  discussions  over  non-es- 
sential points  of  doctrine  and  creed  that  the  essential 
message  of  Christianity  has  been  lost  to  view.  And 
while  the  heads  of  the  church  have  been  engaged  in 
these  profitless  enterprises,  society  in  general  has 
largely  lost  interest  and  has  gone  about  other,  and 
to  it  more  interesting,  occupations.  The  Protestant 
churches  of  today  inherit  something  of  the  attitude 
and  methods  of  the  mediaeval  church  in  the  days  of 
Scholasticism.  The  various  denominations  of  the 
Protestant  church  represent  not  only  the  shades  of 
emphasis  in  scholastic  orthodoxy,  but  a  variety  of 
new  doctrines  which  arose  out  of  the  Reformation  as 


208  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

well.  And  while  we  are  coming  to  lay  less  and  less 
stress  upon  these  non-essential  things,  the  time  is 
not  wholly  past  when  one  may  behold  in  certain  com- 
munities the  spectacle  of  the  members  of  one  congre- 
gation spending  what  little  so-called  religious  energy 
they  can  muster  in  warring  with  the  members  of  a 
neighboring  congregation  over  matters  of  creed  and 
doctrine. 

The  time  has  come  when  these  differences  of  opin- 
ion on  the  part  of  the  various  denominations  must 
be  laid  aside.  We  are  not  ready  to  maintain  that  all 
inter-denominational  lines  should  be  broken  down. 
No  doubt  these  lines  of  demarcation  have  been  of 
more  or  less  value  in  the  evolution  of  the  church  as 
an  institution;  and  there  is  perhaps  still  need  of  gen- 
eral lines  of  distinction.  But  the  supremely  impera- 
tive demand  is  that  points  held  in  common  shall  be 
emphasized;  that  all  church  organizations  unite  in 
the  common  task  of  spreading  the  gospel  of  Jesus, 
the  Common  Brother  of  men.  It  is  one  of  the  trage- 
dies of  social  development  that  so  much  of  the  en- 
ergy of  that  institution  whose  business  it  is  to  de- 
velop all  that  is  noblest,  purest,  and  of  deepest  signi- 
ficance in  human  character  and  personality,  should 
have  been  diverted  into  other  channels  and  expended 
in  vain  argumentation,  when  it  might  have  been 
making  itself  the  greatest  of  social  forces. 

One  of  the  things  that  the  leaders  of  the  church 
most  need  to  learn  is  the  distinction  between  the  fact 
of  religion  and  theology.  Religion  is  a  kind  of  life, 


THE   CBITEE10K   APPLIED:     THE   CHUKCH.          209 

after  the  pattern  of  the  life  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth; 
while  theology  is  the  attempt  to  explain  this  fact  ;  it 
is  a  theory  of  religion.  From  time  immemorial  men 
have  defended  some  theology  or  other,  and  have 
assumed  that  they  were  therefore  religious.  They 
have  taken  the  letter  for  the  spirit,  the  form  for  the 
substance.  It  does  not  so  much  matter  what  a  man 
believes  about  religion  as  that  he  live  the  right  kind 
of  a  life.  It  does  not  so  much  matter  what  one's 
theory  about  salvation  or  immortality  is,  as  that  he 
make  the  principles  of  Jesus  the  policy  of  his  life. 
Recall  our  analysis  of  personality  —  particularly  the 
fact  that  the  very  essence  of  personality  is  the  hav- 
ing of  a  system  of  ends  and  purposes,  a  set  of  stand- 
ards or  a  fixed  policy,  in  accordance  with  which 
moral  problems  shall  be  solved.  Now  the  essential 
thing  is  that  the  ends  and  purposes  which  thus  domi- 
nate the  life  of  the  person  shall  be  those  which  dom- 
inated the  life  of  Jesus.  This  applies  not  only  to 
the  objective  side  of  life,  but  to  the  subjective  side 
as  well.  When  this  becomes  a  fact  in  one's  life,  then 
is  one  truly  religious  and  at  the  same  time  truly 
moral. 


THE  CHUBCH  AS  AN  ORGANIZED  AGENT  OF 

ElGHTEOUSNESS. 

A  social  program  needed.  —  The  statement  was 
made  in  the  beginning  of  this  chapter  that  the 
highest  levels  of  personality  are  reached  only  as  it 
is  completed  and  fulfilled  by  a  religious  experience. 


210  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

We  have  now  shown  what  this  statement  means  from 
the  point  of  view  of  the  person  himself.  We  must 
now  look  at  it  from  the  social  point  of  view.  The 
statement  has  also  been  made  that  the  function  of 
the  church  is  to  promote  the  religious  life  of  the 
members  of  society.  This  is  indeed  its  function ;  but 
there  are  certain  enterprises  in  which  the  church 
ought  to  engage  as  a  means  to  this  end.  It  is  the 
business  of  the  church  to  wage  organized  warfare 
against  sin  and  iniquity  of  every  kind  and  in  every 
place.  We  pray  "lead  us  not  into  temptation"  and 
sometimes  forget  that  the  effective  prayer  is  the  one 
which  is  accomplished  by  work  and  sacrifice  on  our 
own  part.  The  fact  is  that  the  church  can  and  ought 
to  rid  society  of  those  forces  which  serve  as  tempta- 
tions for  men  towards  vice  and  moral  sin.  The 
church  ought  to  be  society's  organized  agency — as 
well  as  the  divine  institution — through  which  to 
wage  warfare  against  social,  economic,  and  political 
injustice  and  iniquity,  as  well  as  against  individual 
sin. 

The  organization  referred  to  is  not  merely  that  for 
the  purpose  of  administration  and  church  govern- 
ment; the  church  is  perhaps  already  highly  enough 
organized  along  this  line.  But  what  is  needed  is  a 
superior  organization  for  the  practical  enterprise  of 
fighting  social  sin;  for  in  this  the  church  is  sadly 
lacking.  The  church  needs  to  socialize  its  methods. 
All  the  other  great  social  enterprises,  economic,  poli- 
tical, and  educational,  are  carried  on  by  elaborate 


THE   CRITERION   APPLIED:     THE   CHURCH.          211 

practical  organization.  Moreover,  the  need  for  like 
machinery  on  the  part  of  the  church  is  made  doubly 
great  by  the  fact  that  practically  all  of  the  great 
social  evils  are  perpetuated  and  enabled  to  grow 
through  monstrous  organizations  of  men  who  have 
capitalized  the  appetites,  passions,  and  cupidity 
of  humanity.  In  order  successfully  to  war  against 
these  intrenchments  of  evil  the  church  must  organize 
and  secure  the  cooperation  of  every  member.  All 
denominations  must  cease  striving  among  them- 
selves over  non-essential  points  of  doctrine  and 
unite  in  a  concerted  and  systematic  effort,  if  the 
evils  referred  to  are  to  be  eradicated  from  our  social 
tissue. 

There  are  then  two  lessons  the  church  needs  to 
learn  along  this  line:  the  social  nature  of  religion, 
and  social  methods  of  working.  As  soon  as  these 
lessons  are  learned  the  church  will  experience  such 
a  revival  as  it  has  not  experienced  since  the  days  of 
Calvin,  Wesley,  and  Fox.  As  soon  as  religion  is 
seen  by  the  masses  to  be  a  dynamic  force  which 
makes  for  social  as  well  as  individual  welfare,  for 
the  life  of  the  present  as  well  as  the  future,  great 
numbers  of  those  who  are  not  now  interested  in  the 
church  will  become  interested.  And  further,  when, 
through  these  organizations,  each  one  is  offered  an 
opportunity  for  effective  social  service,  the  church 
will  discover  within  itself  large  numbers  of  efficient 
and  interested  laborers  and  will  attract  to  it  many 
others. 


THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

It  is  true  that  the  church  has  already  made  a  sub- 
stantial beginning  in  this  matter  of  organization,  but 
it  is  after  all  only  a  beginning.  The  best  illustrations 
of  activity  in  this  direction  are  the  Anti-Saloon 
League  and  Layman's  Missionary  Movement.  In 
each  of  these  instances  there  is  an  elaborate  and 
powerful  organization.  These  organizations  are  so 
newly  established  that  we  cannot  yet  know  what 
their  ultimate  worth  will  be;  but  the  results  already 
accomplished  give  promise  of  untold  social  ameliora- 
tion and  religious  quickening.  But  these  lines  of 
activity  represent  only  two  of  the  many  possible 
lines  of  similar  activity  in  many  other  directions. 

The  church  and  the  other  social  institutions. — We 
have  had  occasion  from  time  to  time  in  the  last  four 
chapters  to  point  to  the  various  abuses  and  social 
sins  that  have  grown  up  in  connection  with  the  dif- 
ferent social  institutions.  We  have  said  that  it  is  the 
business  of  the  state  to  guarantee  a  healthful  social 
soil  in  which  personality  may  grow.  We  may  con- 
sider this  a  negative  duty;  the  duty  of  the  state  is  to 
deter  men  from  performing  unsocial  acts.  But  the 
work  of  the  church  should  be  a  positive  social  force 
for  the  up-building  of  society.  Now  the  way  in  which 
the  church  can  make  itself  felt  as  a  positive  social 
force  is  to  enter  the  lists  in  an  organized  battle 
against  vested  iniquity  in  every  form. 

To  illustrate  the  possibilities  of  a  social  program 
which  the  church  might  adopt  with  untold  profit  to 
itself  as  an  institution  and  to  society,  the  following 


THE   CRITERION   APPLIED:     THE   CHURCH.          213 

lines  of  action  may  be  taken  as  suggestive  and  typi- 
cal: Let  the  church  declare  itself  as  the  vigorous 
and  eternal  champion  of  the  home  and  make  an 
active  campaign  to  preserve  and  increase  the  sanc- 
tity of  the  home.  Let  it  perfect  some  kind  of  organi- 
zation with  which  to  combat  those  forces  which  are 
threatening  this  sanctity  and  resulting  in  divorce. 
The  factors  which  were  mentioned  in  a  previous 
chapter  as  being  responsible  for  the  increasing 
divorce  rate  were,  the  fact  that  marriage  is  entered 
into  too  lightly,  sexual  sin,  and  friction  within  the 
home.  Let  the  church  perfect  some  organization 
which  shall  deal  with  these  forces  in  a  complete  and 
systematic  way.  To  be  more  specific,  the  problem 
of  the  white  slave  traffic  offers  a  point  of  attack. 
Let  it  perfect  some  method  of  collecting  the  facts 
with  regard  to  the  situation  and  of  putting  the  neces- 
sary information  before  the  whole  membership.  Let 
it  awaken  a  public  sentiment  against  this  traffic  by 
thus  educating  the  church  membership.  Let  it  sug- 
gest ways  of  attack;  and  further,  let  it  lead  in  the 
fight. 

Again,  attention  was  called  to  the  evil  which  is 
found  in  connection  with  the  stage  and  amusement. 
The  church  has  held  long  enough  to  its  theoretical 
antagonistic  attitude  to  the  stage  while,  in  fact, 
being  more  or  less  indifferent  to  it.  Let  the  church 
now  take  upon  itself  the  duty  of  exercising  a  sys- 
tematic censorship  over  the  stage  and  over  popular 
amusements,  and  thus  through  public  sentiment  and 


214  THE    SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

demand  bring  these  great  factors  to  the  point  where 
they  will  at  least  be  harmless,  and  in  time  even  to  the 
point  where  they  will  be  of  positive  individual  and 
social  good. 

Or  again,  let  the  church  enter  the  realm  of  the 
vocation  and  through  some  suitable  organization 
help  to  solve  the  problems  of  this  phase  of  life,  in 
harmony  with  the  principles  of  Jesus.  For  example, 
there  is  the  problem  of  child  labor  which  seriously 
needs  thoughtful  study  in  order  that  justice  to  all 
may  be  secured.  Let  the  working  man,  and  indeed 
all  members  of  society  see  that  the  church  is  actively 
interested  in  their  total  welfare,  and  they  will  no 
longer  hold  themselves  aloof  from  it,  but  will  be 
anxious  to  join  its  forces  and  to  assist  in  its  great 
social,  moral,  and  religious  enterprises. 

Finally,  let  the  church  enter  the  realm  of  politics. 
This  does  not  mean  that  the  church  should  seek  to 
exercise  authority  over  the  state,  or  that  there 
should  be  any  direct  connection  between  the  church 
and  state,  as  institutions.  Indeed,  we  in  this  coun- 
try are  committed  to  the  policy  of  the  separation  of 
the  church  and  state.  But  what  is  meant  is  that  a 
proper  organization  within  the  church  should  under- 
take to  enlighten  the  public  conscience  along  politi- 
cal lines.  The  duty  of  the  church  is  not  only  to  pro- 
mote religion,  in  the  narrow  sense  of  the  term,  but 
to  make  men  better  citizens,  better  neighbors,  and 
better  members  of  the  family.  Indeed  its  duty  is  to 
promote  religion  by  doing  these  things ;  and  religion 


THE   CRITERION   APPLIED:     THE   CHURCH.          215 

is  not  a  vital  force  unless  these  results  are  apparent. 
The  various  organized  efforts  suggested  involve 
a  large  division  of  labor.  No  one  individual  could 
work  effectively  in  all  of  these  lines;  perhaps  none 
could  work  effectively  in  more  than  one.  Individual 
preferences  and  abilities  would  direct  the  different 
members  of  the  church  into  one  or  another  of  the 
various  lines  of  church  activity;  and  there  would  be 
great  enough  variety  to  suit  all  capacities  and  pref- 
erences. Let  us  grant  that  the  program  here  sug- 
gested is  a  large  one;  perhaps  larger  than  the  church 
could  now  manage.  But  if  the  church  should  adopt 
this  kind  of  policy  and  go  to  work  upon  these  prob- 
lems, society  would  not  be  long  in  feeling  the  new 
influence,  and  the  membership  of  the  church  would 
be  quickened  into  greater  religious  life.  The  church 
would  grow  and  increase  in  strength  in  proportion 
to  the  magnitude  of  its  new  tasks.  The  church  should 
be  the  greatest  force  for  righteousness  and  clean  liv- 
ing in  society;  and  there  is  no  other  way  in  which  this 
may  be  realized  except  by  identifying  itself  with  life 
in  its  manifold  problems.  Were  the  potential  powers 
of  the  church  as  an  institution  thus  set  free  in  so- 
ciety, all  the  other  social  institutions  would  imme- 
diately feel  its  beneficent  influence.  The  home  would 
feel  its  sanctifying  power;  the  school  and  the  other 
educational  and  cultural  agencies  would  be  more 
spiritually  toned;  in  the  vocation,  men  would  feel 
themselves  to  be  their  brothers'  keepers;  and  in  the 


216  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

state,  justice  and  good-will  would  be  the  common 
practice. 

IV.    PEBSONAL    OBLIGATION. 

The  abundant  life. — Finally,  there  is  the  question 
of  the  moral  obligation  of  the  individual  toward 
society,  through  this  institution.  The  moral  law  de- 
mands a  socialized  conscience  on  the  part  of  every 
person.  This  means  that  each  one  shall  so  act  as  to 
contribute  to  the  growth  of  the  personalities  of  all 
the  other  members  of  society.  From  this  point  of 
view  the  church  has  a  supreme  claim  upon  the  life 
and  service  of  every  member  of  society.  The  fact  is 
that  no  one  can  wield  his  greatest  influence  towards 
the  securing  of  the  desiderata  suggested  in  this  book 
without  allying  himself  with  this  institution  of  so- 
ciety. There  is  a  two-fold  reason  for  this  statement. 
In  the  first  place,  granting  that  a  person  lives  the 
most  abundant  life  and  is  therefore  completely  moral 
only  as  his  life  is  consciously  polarized  by  a  vital 
religious  experience,  as  was  maintained  in  the  first 
part  of  this  chapter,  it  follows  that  this  can  best  be 
brought  about  by  casting  one's  lot  with  some  church 
organization.  While  there  may  perhaps  be  excep- 
tions to  this  statement;  while  there  are  those  within 
the  church  who  use  their  membership  as  a  cloak 
with  which  to  hide  an  evil  and  hypocritical  life;  and 
while  the  church  has  its  many  faults;  yet  on  the 
whole,  in  view  of  the  social  nature  of  religion,  the 
religious  life  of  the  individual  is  best  fostered  and 


THE   CRITERION  APPLIED:     THE  OHUEOH.         217 

developed  by  his  association  with  other  members  of 
society  who  are  interested  in  the  same  great  purpose 
and  end.  There  is  a  decided  advantage  to  be  gained 
in  the  uplift  and  inspiration  of  corporate  activity 
and  in  mingling  with  those  who  are  dominated  by  a 
common  motive. 

Co-operation. — The  other  reason  for  urging  this 
obligation  is  the  social  one.  In  these  days  of  cor- 
porate activity  it  is  next  to  impossible  for  any  one 
to  accomplish  anything  single-handed.  It  is  only 
through  cooperation  on  the  part  of  all  that  the  ends 
which  have  been  suggested  can  be  accomplished. 
And  since  the  socialized  conscience  demands  intelli- 
gent and  altruistic  action  for  social  ends,  it  is  more 
practical  and  more  prudent,  and  it  is  also  the  part 
of  wisdom  to  ally  oneself  with  those  institutions  in 
which  the  members  of  society  seek  to  cooperate  for 
the  accomplishment  of  these  great  purposes.  It  is 
because  one's  service  will  count  for  the  most  pos- 
sible, in  this  way,  that  it  is  the  duty  of  every  person 
to  ally  himself  with  the  church. 

QUESTIONS  AND  TOPICS  FOR  FURTHER  STUDY. 

1.  What,  to  your  mind,  is  the  best  definition  of  reli- 
gion ?    Is  there  such  a  thing  as  a  religious  instinct? 

2.  What  is  the  nature  of  primitive  religion?    Do  all 
peoples  conceive  religion  and  morality  to  be  intrinsically 
related? 

3.  What  is  the  common  idea  among  our  people  as  to 
the  relation  of  morality  and  religion  to  each  other?  What 
is  your  opinion  of  the  statement  that  "No  person  is  truly 


218  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

moral  in  the  large  sense  of  the  term  who  is  lacking  in  a 
vital  religious  life"  ? 

4.  What  mental  functions  are  involved  in  the  highest 
type  of  religious  life  ? 

5.  Why  must  we  hold  that  religion  is  essentially  a 
social  matter?     Is  "spiritual  life"  a  personal  or  social 
affair,  or  is  it  both? 

6.  Is  religion  dying  out  in  this  country?     How  else 
can  you  account  for  the  alienation  of  the  working  classes 
from  the  churches  ? 

7.  Why  has  the  church  been  so  slow  in  awakening  to 
its  social  mission  ? 

8.  What  have  been  the  methods  of  the  church  in  the 
past  in  regard  to  charity? 

9.  What  are  the  most  approved  methods  of  philan- 
thropy today?     Does  scientific  philanthropy  open  up  a 
special  opportunity  for  the  modern  church? 

10.  What  might  the  church  do  in  the  way  of  improving 
housing  and  sanitary  conditions  in  the  congested  districts 
of  cities?    What  would  be  the  probable  reflex  effect  upon 
the  church  of  this  kind  of  effort? 

11.  Describe   the  movement  known  as  the   "institu- 
tional church."    Does  its  work  constitute  a  vital  social 
program  ? 

12.  Is  the  personalness  of  religion  in  danger  of  being 
sacrificed  in  the  presence  of  so  much  "welfare  work"  and 
"social  service"  ? 

13.  Does  the  church  now  exert  any  considerable  influ- 
ence by  way  of  molding  public  opinion  ?    Is  there  any  way 
by  which  it  might  have  a  greater  influence  in  this  direc- 
tion? 

14.  Is  the  church  ceasing  to  emphasize  the  "other- 
worldliness"  of  religion?    What  is  the  moral  significance 
of  your  answer  ? 

15.  Is  there  any  valid  argument  in  support  of  the 


THE   CBITEBION   APPLIED:     THE   CHURCH.          219 

statement  that  one  can  do  more  good  outside  of  the 
church  than  in  it?  What  would  be  the  ultimate  moral 
effect  of  the  argument? 

REFERENCES. 

ON   THE   NATURE   OP   RELIGION,   AND   ITS   RELATION   TO 
MORALITY. 

Mackenzie:    Manual  of  Ethics,  Bk.  Ill,  Ch.  VIII. 
MacCunn :  The  Making  of  Character,  Pt.  II,  Ch.  VII. 
Perry :  The  Moral  Economy,  Ch.  IV. 
Wright:  Self  Realization,  Pt.  IV,  Ch.  III. 

ON   SOCIAL  METHODS  AND  A   SOCIAL  PROGRAM   FOR  THE 
CHURCH. 

Thompson :  The  Churches  and  the  Wage  Earners,  Pt. 
IV,  Ch.  II,  III,  IV. 

Peabody:  The  Approach  to  the  Social  Question, 
Ch.  VI. 

Rauschenbusch :  Christianizing  the  Social  Order, 
Pt.  VI. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE  MORAL  IDEAL. 
I.    MORALITY  AND  PROGRESS. 

The  nature  of  the  ideal. — We  have  now  completed 
the  task  of  developing  a  moral  criterion  and  of  ap- 
plying it  to  the  moral  situations  as  they  occur  in 
connection  with  the  great  institutions  of  society.  It 
remains  for  us  to  gather  up  these  conclusions  and 
state  them  in  the  form  of  a  moral  ideal  which  shall 
have  both  a  personal  and  a  social  reference. 

We  must  not  think  of  the  ideal  as  a  static  thing, 
an  unchangeable,  metaphysical  absolute;  it  must  be 
thought  of  as  a  growth.  As  mind  develops,  as  expe- 
rience increases,  and  as  intellectual  capacity  en- 
larges, ideals  become  more  perfect.  As  one  ap- 
proaches the  ideal  in  conduct  and  action  the  ideal 
itself  moves  on ;  it  is  never  reached.  By  virtue  of  its 
emotional  appeal  it  leads  on  from  effort  to  effort  in 
the  attempt  to  realize  it.  The  only  sense  in  which 
the  ideal  may  be  said  to  be  absolute  is  that  it  is  never 
attained:  that  it  is  always  beyond.  The  moral  ideal 
is  not  some  glorified  state  in  which  all  progress  is  a 
thing  of  the  past;  but  it  must  be  thought  of  as 
change  and  growth.  If  the  change  is  to  be  truly  pro- 


221 


222  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

gressive  it  must  take  place  in  harmony  with  moral 
law;  life  must  become  more  and  more  organized; 
reason  must  come  to  exert  a  greater  and  greater 
control;  this  is  the  only  avenue  of  approach  to  the 
moral  ideal. 

Progress  arises  out  of  struggle. — As  in  the  larger 
biological  field,  so  in  the  moral  realm;  moral  prog- 
ress arises  out  of  the  give-and-take,  the  struggle  and 
stress  of  an  active  life.  That  life  in  which  morality 
grows  is  a  social  life.  Like  biological  adjustment 
again,  moral  progress  is  the  result  of  a  process  of 
selection,  except  that  in  this  case  the  selection  is  a 
conscious  instead  of  an  unconscious  one.  And  it  is 
just  here  in  this  conscious  selection  that  the  struggle 
comes.  On  the  personal  and  psychological  side  the 
struggle  consists  in  the  conflict  of  reason  with  im- 
pulse, instinct,  and  habit.  This  is  the  center  of  diffi- 
culty and,  at  the  same  time,  the  achievement  of  the 
moral  life.  As  was  said  in  a  previous  chapter,  these 
impulsive  and  instinctive  tendencies  are  not  wholly 
wrong  in  themselves ;  they  become  so  only  when  they 
lead  to  unworthy  and  irrational  conduct. 

This  conflict  is  the  forge  in  which  character  is 
made.  As  was  brought  out  in  our  analysis  of  the 
moral  standards,  it  is  the  portion  of  reason  and  judg- 
ment to  organize  and  of  habit  to  provide  the  momen- 
tum of  the  moral  life.  Further,  reason  constitutes 
the  very  heart  and  core  of  personality;  and  unless 
there  is  struggle  and  conflict  in  which  deliberation, 
choice,  and  volition  are  demanded,  there  is  no  oppor- 


THE   MOBAL   IDEAL.  223 

tunity  for  real  character  to  be  made,  if  by  character 
we  mean  the  having  of  a  set  of  policies  and  fixed 
plans  in  harmony  with  which  it  is  proposed  to  live. 
Character  is  formed,  that  is,  personal  progress  is 
made  as  impulsive  tendencies  which  are  inconsistent 
with  one's  ideals  are  inhibited  or  are  redirected  into 
new  and  consistent  channels.  But  this  requires  strug- 
gle and  "will  power;"  it  means  that  in  very  many 
instances  a  present  pleasure  or  desire  must  be  sacri- 
ficed for  the  sake  of  a  remote  end;  and  the  struggle 
will  be  great  or  small  in  proportion  to  the  strength 
or  weakness  of  the  present  desire,  or  in  proportion 
to  the  weakness  or  strength  of  the  individual's  ideals 
and  standards.  Each  decision  made  is  not  only  sig- 
nificant for  the  moment,  but  tends  to  add  momentum 
in  its  own  direction  which  will  be  of  value  in  all 
future  instances  of  like  nature;  it  points  either  to- 
wards or  away  from  progress.  Consequently  each 
conquest  of  reason  over  impulse  is  a  moral  achieve- 
ment and  further  strengthens  character. 

Conflict  centers  in  a  moral  situation. — Now  the 
conflict  out  of  which  moral  progress  arises  centers 
in  a  moral  situation.  This  was  defined  as  a  situation 
in  which  a  volitional  act  is  demanded,  and  the  conse- 
quence of  which  is,  to  some  extent  at  least,  of  vital 
significance.  The  ultimate  value  of  one's  behavior 
in  the  face  of  a  moral  situation  is  thus  seen.  In  order 
to  make  this  more  concrete,  it  may  be  well  to  recall 
the  various  kinds  of  moral  situations  that  actually 
do  arise.  In  the  first  place  they  are  always  of  a 


224  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

social  nature;  they  always  arise  in  connection  with 
one  or  another  of  the  social  institutions.  It  may  be 
a  question  of  justice  within  the  home  or  in  the  mar- 
ket place;  of  truth  in  the  press  or  on  the  stage;  of 
good- will  in  the  factory  or  in  the  legislative  halls; 
but  everywhere  it  is  a  social  situation  and  one  in 
which  some  individual  must  make  a  choice  which 
will  affect  in  a  vital  way  the  welfare  of  some  one — 
either  of  himself  or  another,  or  both. 

Morally  good  acts  tend  to  be  self-preservative, 
whereas  morally  bad  acts  tend  to  be  self-destructive; 
therefore  the  former  is  rational  action  and  the  latter 
is  irrational.  In  human  society  the  struggle  for  ex- 
istence takes,  in  the  main,  the  form  of  the  struggle 
of  reason  over  the  impulsive  and  instinctive  tenden- 
cies, and  this  is  truer  the  further  advanced  society 
becomes.  Putting  these  facts  together  it  is  obvious 
that  moral  progress  does  arise  out  of  the  conflict  of 
the  moral  situation  and  that  total  welfare  is  the 
result  of  a  rational  and  therefore  morally  good 
choice. 

II.    PERSONAL   PROGRESS. 

The  phrase  "total  welfare"  suggests  the  two 
phases  of  moral  progress,  the  personal  and  the 
social.  Morality  is  ultimately  a  personal  affair; 
but  we  must  remember  also  that  personality  is  a 
social  affair.  As  has  already  been  pointed  out,  these 
two  are  organic  to  each  other;  and  in  like  manner 
the  personal  and  social  aspects  of  moral  progress 


THE   MORAL  IDEAL.  225 

are  also  organic  to  each  other.  Let  us  examine  in  a 
little  more  detail  this  moral  progress  from  each  of 
these  two  points  of  view,  while  remembering  at  the 
same  time  the  organic  nature  of  the  two. 

Education  of  the  total  self. — Personal  progress  in 
the  matter  of  morals  involves  the  education  of  the 
total  self, — intellectual,  emotional,  and  volitional. 
Psychologically,  these  three  phases  of  mind  are  or- 
ganic to  each  other;  they  represent  three  types  of 
mental  function,  and  are  not  three  separate,  water- 
tight compartments  of  mind.  Now  it  is  true  that 
reason — that  which  constitutes  the  essence  of  person- 
ality— is  denned  as  an  intellectual  process.  But  this 
must  not  be  taken  to  mean  that  complete  personality 
involves  only  the  development  of  the  intellectual 
phase  of  mind,  as  contrasted  with  the  emotional  and 
volitional.  The  statement  that  these  three  phases  of 
consciousness  are  organic  means  that  mind  is  never 
pure  intellectual  activity,  or  pure  emotion,  or  pure 
volition.  Consciousness  may  be  predominantly  one 
or  another  of  these  at  any  moment,  but  it  would  be 
impossible,  for  example,  for  one  to  experience  pure 
emotion  with  no  "intellectual"  content  about  which 
to  feel.  It  follows  from  this  that  a  proper  intellec- 
tual education,  particularly  of  reason,  necessarily 
involves  development  along  these  other  lines.  This 
is  the  meaning  of  the  statement  that  personal  growth 
involves  the  education  of  the  total  self. 

This  may  be  made  more  specific  by  reference  to 
that  class  of  "feelings"  called  the  sentiments.  Sen- 


226  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

timents  are  defined  psychologically  as  affectively 
colored  judgments;  they  are  usually  classified  as 
intellectual,  aesthetic,  moral,  and  religious,  and  are 
concerned  with  the  questions  of  truth,  beauty,  good- 
ness, and  righteousness,  respectively.  Now  it  would 
seem  that  there  is  nothing  in  the  whole  catalog  of 
conscious  experience  that  has  greater  significance 
for  moral  progress  in  the  individual  than  these. 
They  all  have  reference  to  the  ideal.  The  moral  sig- 
nificance of  the  ideal  is  immediately  obvious,  once 
its  psychological  nature  is  seen.  Briefly  defined, 
the  ideal  is  a  concept  or  generalized  idea  which  is 
affectively  colored;  that  is,  the  moral  ideal  is  ideal 
by  virtue  of  its  attracting  and  pulling  power.  If  it 
lacks  this  characteristic  it  is  merely  an  indifferent 
and  impersonal  idea  and  has  no  power  to  call  forth 
appreciation;  without  this  there  is  no  stimulus  to 
action. 

Peculiar  significance  of  the  sentiments. — Let  us 
illustrate  still  further  the  significance  of  the  feeling 
side  of  life  for  moral  progress.  The  intellectual  side 
has  already  received  a  good  deal  of  consideration  in 
connection  with  the  virtue  of  intelligence,  and  this 
whole  book  deals  with  the  volitional  side  of  con- 
sciousness, at  least  from  a  large  point  of  view.  We 
will  take  the  case  of  the  aesthetic  sentiments  as  illus- 
trative of  the  point,  both  because  of  their  import- 
ance and  because  of  their  partial  neglect  in  this  con- 
nection. 

As  was  said  above,  the  aesthetic  sentiment  deals 


THE  MOBAL  IDEAL.  227 

with  the  question  of  beauty,  having  as  its  task  the 
judgment  as  to  whether  a  given  object  is  beautiful. 
Now  the  social  institution  which  is  founded  upon 
sentiment  is  art.  Art  is  the  attempt  to  discover  and 
to  express  the  ideal  of  beauty  along  the  several  lines 
of  literature,  music,  painting,  sculpture,  and  archi- 
tecture. The  aesthetic  ideal  is  a  progressive  one, 
like  the  moral  ideal,  and  hence  is  never  attained.  It 
can  only  be  approximated;  and  the  masterpieces  of 
the  world  represent  the  nearest  approach  to  the 
ideal. 

Now  there  is  nothing  else  which  more  completely 
makes  for  life  more  abundant  and  which  gives  it 
value  more  consistently  than  does  the  aesthetic  in- 
terest. Judged  therefore  in  terms  of  complete  per- 
sonality, the  feeling  side  of  life,  and  particularly 
the  aesthetic  sentiment,  is  of  great  moral  significance. 

Perry  in  his  Moral  Economy  (Chapter  V),  in  giv- 
ing the  reasons  why  the  aesthetic  interest  is  able  to 
enrich  life  and  develop  personality,  points  out  that 
it  has  some  six  different  characteristics  in  virtue  of 
which  it  possesses  this  moral  value.  These  charac- 
teristics are  as  follows:  self-sufficiency,  pervasive- 
ness, vicariousness,  stimulation  to  action,  fixation  of 
ideal,  and  liberality.  By  way  of  further  emphasis 
upon  this  point,  it  will  be  worth  our  while  to  define 
these  terms  briefly.  The  aesthetic  interest  is  self- 
sufficient  in  that  it  makes  the  individual  more  or  less 
independent  of  his  immediate  environment  and  gives 
him  a  means  of  happiness  within  himself  "without 


228  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

the  aid  of  his  fellows  or  the  favor  of  fortune. "  It  is 
pervasive  because  is  gives  color  to  all  the  incidents 
of  life:  nature,  work,  play, — everything  is  looked 
upon  with  eyes  of  appreciation. 

The  aesthetic  interest  serves  a  vicarious  function 
in  that  it  enables  one  to  experience  certain  senti- 
ments without  there  being  an  immediate  objective 
stimulus  therefor.  It  enables  conscious  life  to  be 
rounded  out  and  completed  by  calling  into  play 
those  instincts  and  emotions  which  would  be  en- 
gaged were  the  situation  actually  presented  instead 
of  being  ideally  presented.  It  does  not  need  to  be 
further  shown  that  the  aesthetic  interest  stimulates 
to  action.  It  is  like  emotion  in  this  regard.  In  like 
manner,  where  the  aesthetic  interest  does  not  lead  to 
immediate  action,  it  crystallizes  the  ideas  into  ideals 
by  fixing  upon  them  the  stamp  of  affection.  As  has 
been  said,  this  is  one  of  the  most  important  functions 
of  the  aesthetic  interest.  And  finally,  we  find  in  art 
the  great  liberalizing  factor  of  life.  As  examples  of 
this,  one  has  but  to  recall  the  solemnizing,  refresh- 
ing, and  inspiring  influence  of  beautiful  music  to 
realize  how  aesthetic  appreciation  lifts  one  out  of  the 
commonplace  into  relation  with  the  larger  things  of 
the  spirit. 

"But  art  promotes  liberality  of  spirit  in  an  even 
more  definitely  moral  sense.  For  art,  like  all  forms 
of  culture,  and  like  the  service  of  humanity,  pro- 
vides for  the  highest  type  of  social  intercourse.  The 
aesthetic  interest  is  one  of  those  rare  interests  which 


THE    MOBAL   IDEAL.  229 

are  common  to  all  men  without  being  competitive. 
All  men  require  bread,  but  since  this  interest  re- 
quires exclusive  possession  of  its  object,  its  very 
commonness  is  a  source  of  suspicion  and  enmity. 
Similarly  all  men  require  truth  and  beauty  and  civ- 
ilization, but  these  objects  are  enhanced  by  the  fact 
that  all  may  rejoice  in  them  without  their  being 
divided  or  becoming  the  property  of  any  man.  They 
bring  men  together  without  rivalry  and  intrigue, 
and  in  the  spirit  of  good-fellowship."1 

It  is  out  of  such  interests  as  these,  together  with 
the  struggle  and  conflict  of  the  more  practical  moral 
situations  as  they  arise  in  the  home,  state,  and  voca- 
tion, that  personality  grows  into  the  abundant  life. 
This  is  the  moral  ideal,  the  abundant  life,  as 
looked  at  from  the  personal  point  of  view.  There 
are  different  levels  or  different  degrees  of  per- 
fection of  personality  just  as  there  are  differ- 
ent levels  of  perfection  represented  in  the  trees 
of  a  given  species,  depending  upon  the  favorable- 
ness  of  the  environment.  There  is  this  differ- 
ence however:  while  the  growth  of  the  tree  is  condi- 
tioned from  without,  personal  growth  is  conditioned 
from  within  as  well  as  from  without.  There  is  pos- 
sible for  the  human  being  a  conscious  selection  and 
choice  which  is  one  of  the  most  important  of  condi- 
tioning factors.  The  unfolding  of  human  character 
is  in  no  small  measure  the  result  of  the  individual's 

JOp.  cit 


230  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

own  will.  It  does  not  come  without  effort;  on  the 
contrary,  a  conscious  selection  often  has  to  be  made. 
Sometimes  this  effort  must  be  put  forth  along  lines 
not  commonly  regarded  as  involving  moral  situa- 
tions. To  acquire  an  aesthetic  interest  is  not  usually 
regarded  as  a  moral  obligation.  While  thought  of 
as  a  desirable  attainment,  an  aesthetic  interest  is  yet 
regarded  as  more  or  less  superfluous  from  the  moral 
point  of  view.  But  morality  is  "  nothing  more  nor 
less  than  the  law  which  determines  the  whole  order 
of  interests,  within  which  art  and  every  other  good 
thing  is  possible. ' '  And  there  is  no  other  one  thing 
in  the  whole  realm  of  human  possibilities  which  can 
more  fully  enrich  and  sweeten  life,  which  can  make 
possible  the  abundant  life  in  greater  degree,  than 
the  aesthetic  interest. 

Summary. — "We  may  now  summarize  the  discus- 
sion of  the  personal  phase  of  moral  progress  by  say- 
ing that  it  consists  in  the  growth  of  personality:  the 
unfoldment  of  life.  This  is  the  ultimate  moral  ideal. 
But  while  holding  that  the  growth  of  personality  is 
the  ultimate  moral  ideal,  we  must  remember  that 
personality  is  ultimately  social.  As  was  brought  out 
in  the  chapter  on  the  moral  criterion,  the  roots  of 
personality  extend  down  into  the  very  heart  of  so- 
ciety. Personality  is  a  living,  growing  thing,  deriv- 
ing its  sustenance  from  society  through  the  channels 
of  the  social  institutions  and  making  progress  by 
adjusting  itself  to  its  social  environment.  The 
abundant  life,  like  personality,  is  a  social  matter,  and 


THE   MORAL   IDEAL.  231 

can  exist  only  in  a  social  soil.  It  is  inconceivable  that 
an  individual  isolated  from  society  in  all  its  forms 
could  realize  the  abundant  life;  it  is  only  as  one  is 
an  organic  part  of  society  that  this  is  possible.  It 
is  only  as  one  comes  in  touch  with  others  in  the 
home,  the  school,  the  vocation,  the  state,  and  the 
church  that  life  takes  on  its  deepest  significance. 
It  is  only  as  the  higher  moral  capacities  are  stimu- 
lated and  brought  into  play  in  connection  with  the 
practical  problems  that  center  in  these  institutions, 
that  life  more  abundant  is  experienced.  Further, 
life  has  come  to  its  full  fruition  and  is  rounded  out 
and  sweetened  by  a  keen  appreciation  of  the  litera- 
ture, the  music,  and  the  other  art  of  the  world,  thus 
coming  into  personal  touch  with  the  great  souls  of 
all  ages.  Thus  it  is  that  the  spirit  of  man  is  exalted 
to  its  full  humanity  and  the  moral  ideal  is  approxi- 
mated. 

m.    SOCIAL    PROGRESS. 

Personal  progress  contributes  to  social  progress. — 
We  have  perhaps  dwelt  at  sufficient  length  in  earlier 
chapters  upon  the  social  significance  of  moral  prog- 
ress, so  that  a  brief  mention  of  it  here  will  be  suffi- 
cient. Further,  the  preceding  paragraphs  have 
shown  how  organically  personality  and  society  are 
related.  As  the  moral  ideal  is  approximated  in  the 
person  of  each  member  of  society,  that  is,  as  each 
one  comes  more  and  more  to  meet  in  a  rational  way 
the  moral  situations  that  arise  in  the  various  rela- 


232  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

tions  of  life  and  as  he  further  acquires  those  graces 
of  character  which  are  the  product  of  the  finer  feel- 
ings, the  ills  of  society  will  tend  to  disappear.  In 
the  chapters  dealing  with  the  social  institutions  we 
have  called  attention  to  the  various  abuses  which  are 
present  in  society  as  now  organized.  But  if  the  life 
of  each  member  of  society  were  dominated  by  the 
socialized  conscience,  as  would  be  the  case  if  this 
ideal  of  progress  were  approximated  in  the  person 
of  the  members  of  society,  these  abuses  could  no 
longer  exist;  the  various  forms  of  social  disease 
would  be  eliminated  from  the  social  tissue.  Social 
amelioration  such  as  this  is  the  dream  of  the  socio- 
logist. But  no  such  objective  social  progress  is  at- 
tainable until  the  moral  law  has  carried  on  a  paral- 
lel process  of  regeneration  in  the  hearts  of  the  per- 
sons who  compose  society. 

Publicity  and  co-operation. — Further,  our  social 
life  is  growing  so  big  and  so  complicated  in  all  direc- 
tions that  the  older  order  of  personal  relations  is  dis- 
appearing and  a  new  order  of  impersonal  social  rela- 
tionships is  taking  its  place.  ' '  The  very  magnitude 
of  modern  operations  and  properties  serves  to  bring 
out  more  clearly  the  principles  involved.  The  im- 
personal character  allows  economic  forces  pure  and 
simple  to  be  seen  in  their  moral  bearing.  Publicity 
has  become  a  necessity. '  '2  It  is  at  this  point  that  the 
newspaper  can  be  of  such  great  moral  value.  Since 


*Dewey  and  Tufts :  Ethics,  p.  511, 


THE   MOBAL   IDEAL.  233 

the  moral  situation  is  now  so  extensive,  arising  as  it 
does  between  great  groups  of  people,  the  only  hope 
of  a  sound  moral  condition  in  society  lies  in  the 
direction  of  thorough  and  accurate  information  on 
the  part  of  all  concerning  these  social  situations. 

But  while  publicity  is  a  powerful  deterrent  to 
anti-social  and  immoral  practices,  it  is  not  in  itself  a 
cure-all.  It  comes  to  have  moral  value  only  as  it 
serves  to  stimulate  and  guide  groups  of  men  who 
have  initiative  and  moral  enthusiasm.  Morality  is 
not  merely  a  passive  piety  which  refrains  from  com- 
mitting positive  wrong;  it  is  a  dynamic,  construc- 
tive, purposeful  attitude  which  shows  initiative  in 
the  application  of  social  and  moral  principles. 

We  have  reached  the  place  in  our  social  develop- 
ment where  moral  progress  can  be  achieved  only  as 
those  individuals  who  have  already  reached  a  high 
level  of  personality  for  themselves  shall  cooperate 
in  the  planning  and  execution  of  a  moral  program. 
Practically  all  of  the  glaring  social  sins  and  condi- 
tions of  injustice,  such  as  the  social  evil,  gambling, 
graft,  political  chicanery,  and  the  like,  are  controlled 
by  powerful  organizations  of  men  who  use  in  their 
sharp  practices  the  most  productive  of  economic 
principles.  And  the  hope  of  moral  progress  lies  in 
the  social  potentiality  which  a  proper  organization 
of  the  many  who  are  already  socially-minded  would 
represent.  Thorough  cooperation  and  systematic 
methods  are  the  two  factors  which  are  necessary  to 
success  in  carrying  out  such  a  moral  program. 


234  THE   SOCIALIZED    CONSCIENCE. 

Conclusion. — In  conclusion,  we  will  have  to  return 
for  our  ultimate  point  of  view  to  the  fact  that  society 
and  personality  are  organic  to  each  other.  And 
while  it  is  possible  to  talk  of  moral  progress  as  ap- 
plied to  the  individual  and  as  applied  to  society,  yet 
in  truth  these  phases  of  progress  are  as  organic  to 
each  other  as  are  the  individual  and  society.  It  is 
impossible  that  a  person  should  make  progress  with- 
in his  own  life,  as  suggested  above,  without  thereby 
affecting  society;  and  it  is  equally  impossible  that 
society  should  progress  without  affecting  to  some 
extent  the  welfare  of  the  individual.  The  moral 
criterion  demands  that  progress  in  the  moral  order 
shall  be  the  ideal  towards  which  all  effort,  both  indi- 
vidual and  social,  shall  be  directed.  It  demands  also 
that  all  members  of  society  shall  cooperate  to  the 
fullest  extent  with  each  other  and  with  the  estab- 
lished social  institutions  in  order  to  bring  this  to 
pass.  The  socialized  conscience  on  the  part  of  every 
member  of  society  will  have  to  be  actualized  as  the 
ruling  force  in  the  lives  of  men  as  they  meet  in  the 
home,  the  school,  the  vocation,  the  state,  and  the 
church.  As  this  shall  cotne  to  pass,  the  moral  ideal 
will  be  approached ;  and  the  kingdom  of  heaven  will 
come  into  the  hearts  of  men. 

QUESTIONS  AND  TOPICS  FOR  FURTHER  STUDY. 

1.  From    the    psychological    standpoint,    what    does 
moral  growth  imply?    Illustrate  fully. 

2.  What  is  the  psychological  meaning  of  self  control? 
What  is  the  value  of  it  for  moral  development? 


THE   MOBAL   IDEAL.  235 

3.  From  what   point  of  view  may   moral  progress, 
both  personal  and  social,  be  thought  of  as  emancipation? 

4.  What  biological  factors  are  operative  in  the  evolu- 
tion of  species?    Are  there  any  new  factors  of  a  psycho- 
logical nature  distinguishable  when  we  come  to  the  evolu- 
tion of  human  society  ? 

5.  Show  the  relation  of  the  moral  law  to  social  evolu- 
tion. 

6.  What  is  "mob  mind"?    May  this  ever  be  turned  to 
good  account  morally. 

7.  In  Chapter  III  the  statement  was  made  that  per- 
sonality grows  in  a  social  soil;  is  this  soil  a  static  or  a 
dynamic  thing?    Explain. 

8.  What  should  be  the  effect  of  publicity  upon  per- 
sonal development?     Is  publicity  a  possible  source  of 
danger? 

9.  What  does  the  term  "public  morals"  mean?    Give 
illustrations  which  will  show  the  reciprocal  relation  be- 
tween public  and  private  morals. 

10.  Should  the  church  as  an  institution  hold  a  pecu- 
liarly strategic  position  in  the  matter  of  social  progress? 
If  so,  why? 

11.  Are  all  of  the  institutions  of  society  equally  ad- 
vanced in  the  way  of  socialization? 

12.  Mention  the  types  of  established  social  machinery 
through  which  it  is  the  duty  of  the  members  of  society  to 
work  cooperatively. 

REFERENCES. 
ON  PERSONAL  PROGRESS. 

MacCunn :  The  Making  of  Character,  Pt  IV,  Ch.  I. 
Perry :  The  Moral  Economy,  Ch.  V. 
Seth :  Ethical  Principles,  Pt.  II,  Ch.  III. 

ON  SOCIAL  PROGRESS. 

Dealey :  Sociology,  Ch.  XIX. 
Nearing :  Social  Adjustment,  Ch.  I. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

The  following  list  of  books  is  a  summary  of  the  more 
important  ones  referred  to  in  the  text,  together  with  a  few 
others;  and  while  it  makes  no  pretension  to  complete- 
ness, being  rather  the  selection  of  a  few  of  the  most  valu- 
able, it  would  constitute  a  fair  working  library  in  the 
field  of  ethics. 

I.  Books  on  General  Ethics,  developing  the  subject 
chiefly  from  the  systematic  point  of  view. 

Dewey  and  Tufts :  Ethics. 

MacCunn :  The  Making  of  Character. 

Mackenzie :  Manual  of  Ethics. 

Perry :  The  Moral  Economy. 

Seth :  Ethical  Principles. 

Spencer :  The  Data  of  Ethics. 

Leslie  Stephen :  The  Science  of  Ethics. 

Thilly:  Introduction  to  Ethics. 

Wright :  Self  Realization. 

II.  Books  dealing  with  the  General  Nature  of  Society 
and  the  Social  Problem. 

Coleman :  Social  Ethics. 

Dealey:  Sociology. 

Hadley :  Standards  of  Public  Morals. 

Nearing:  Social  Adjustment. 

Peabody :  The  Approach  to  the  Social  Question. 

Eauschenbusch :  Christianizing  the  Social  Order. 

Ross :  Changing  America. 

III.  Books   dealing   with   Special   Topics  which   are 
closely  related  to  the  moral  problem. 

237 


238  THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 

Jane  Addams :  Democracy  and  Social  Ethics. 

A  New  Conscience  and  an  Ancient  Evil. 
The    Spirit    of    Youth    and    the    City 
Streets. 

Betts :  The  Social  Principles  of  Education. 

Foreman :  Advanced  Civics. 

Gettell :  Political  Science. 

Gillette:  Vocational  Education. 

Home :  The  Philosophy  of  Education. 

Lincoln :  The  Factory. 

Mackaye :  The  Civic  Theater. 

Pyle :  The  Outlines  of  Educational  Psychology. 

Hadley:  The  Education  of  the  American  Citizen. 

Redfield :  The  New  Industrial  Day. 

Sneath  and  Hodges :  Moral  Training  in  the  School  and 
Home. 

The  Social  Evil  in  Chicago.    Report  of  the  Vice  Com- 
mission. 

Thompsom :  The  Churches  and  the  Wage  Earners. 

RELIGIOUS  PERIODICALS. 

The  Congregationalist :  Rev.  Howard  A.  Bridreman,  14 
Beacon  St.,  Boston. 

The  Continent :  Nolan  R.  Best,  156  Fifth  Ave.,  New  York 
City. 

The  Christian  Worker:  Rev.  Frederick  Lynch,  D.D.,  90 
Bible  House,  New  York  City. 

The  Sunday  School  Times:  C.  G.  Trumbull,  D.D.,  Phil- 
adelphia, Pa. 

The  American  Friend :  S.  E.  Nicholson,  Richmond,  Ind. 

The  Christian  Herald:  Geo.  H.  Sandison,  Bible  House, 
New  York  City. 

The  Christian  Advocate :  150  Fifth  Ave.,  New  York. 

The  Homiletic  Review :  Funk  &  Wagnalls,  New  York  City. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY.  239 

The  Biblical  World :  Ernest  De  Witt  Burton,  University 

of  Chicago  Press,  Chicago,  111. 

GENERAL. 
The  Outlook :  Lyman  Abbott,  287  Fourth  Ave.,  New  York 

City. 

The  Literary  Digest:  354460  Fourth  Ave.,  New  York. 
The  Independent:  Hamilton  Holt,  119  West  Fourth  St., 

New  York. 

ETHICS. 
The  International  Journal  of  Ethics:  S.  Burton  Weston, 

1415  Locust  St.,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 


INDEX 


INDEX 


Abundant  life,  the,  216,  292. 
Abuses  of  capital,  146. 
Abuses  of  labor,  172. 
Administration  of  law,  185. 
Adolescence,  121. 
Aesthetic  sentiment,  the,  227. 
Alcohol,  the  effects  of,  97. 
Amusement,  137. 

social  control  of,  140. 
Animal  mind,  the,  46. 
Anthropology,    24. 
Application  of  moral  criterion 

to  home,  104ff. 
Approval,  10. 
Arbitration,  182. 
Army,  182. 

B 

Biological  function  of  home,  75. 
"Boss,"  the,  40,  184. 
Bribery,  188. 
Business,  166. 
Butler,  52. 


Capital, 

abuses  of,  164. 

rights  of,  163. 
Ceremonies,  5. 
Character,  48,  222. 
Child  and  parents,  the,  103. 
Church,  the,  203. 

and  amusement,  213. 

duty  of  to  society,  207. 

and  the  home,  213. 

obligation  to,  216. 

and  organization,  210. 

and  personality,  60. 

and  politics,  214. 


and  social  progress,  209. 

and  the  vocations,  214. 
Civilization, 

characteristics  of,  12. 

and  organization,  13. 
Clan,  the,  3. 
Combination,  169. 
Commodity,  the  best  possible, 

162. 

Conflict  of  motives,  223. 
Conflicts,  doctrinal,  207. 
Conscience,  10. 

affective  aspect  of,  28. 

beginnings  of,  14. 

a  divine  light,  28. 

empirical  view  of,  25. 

growth  of,  225. 

in  the  individual,  23. 

In  the  race,  18. 

and  individuality,  22. 

rationalistic  view  of,  23. 

synthetic  view  of,  27. 

volitional  aspect  of,  28. 
Consumption  and  morality,  118. 
Cooperation, 

in  the  home,  100. 

and  progress,  232. 

with  the  school,  122. 
Crime,  189. 

Cultural  agencies,  111. 
Curriculum,  the,  116. 
Custom, 

authority  of,  11. 

all  equally  right,  10. 

in  civilized  society,  13. 

and  conscience,  15. 

and  morality,  9. 

origin  of,  7. 

practical  and  moral  value 
of,  11. 

in  primitive  society,  5. 
Customs  duties,  192. 

243 


THE    SOCIALIZED    CONSCIENCE. 


D 


Defective  children,  107. 
Deliberation,  36. 
Democracy,  123. 
Denominational  lines,  208. 
Disease,  90,  106. 
Distrust  of  government,  198. 
Division  of  labor,  21. 
Divorce, 

causes  of,  74. 

easily  obtained,  84. 

law  and  conscience,  29. 

and  morality,  71. 
Doctrinal  conflicts,  207. 
Double  standard,  the,  80. 

origin  of,  92. 
Drama  league,  the,  135. 
Duties  of  the  school,  119. 
Duty  of  press,  127. 


Excises,  192. 
Exploitation,  153. 
Expression,  37. 

F 

Feeling  side  of  conscience,  28. 
Franchise,  the,  181,  194. 
Freedom,  9,  22,  32. 
Friction  in  the  home,  99. 
Function  of  the  state,  197. 


G 


Gambling,  164. 

God,  belief  in,  205. 

Good-will,  66. 

Government,  distrust  of,  198. 

Graft,  41,  127,  184. 

Group  characteristics,  2. 


E 


Economic   activities    in   primi- 
tive society,  4. 

Economic  condition  of  woman, 
94. 

Economic  dependence  of  wife, 
102. 

Economic  efficiency,  116. 

Economic  function  of  home,  77. 

Economic  order  socialized,  150. 

Economic  organization,  145. 

Education,  37,  50. 
sex,  92. 
of  total  self,  225. 

Educational  and  moral  end,  114. 

Efficiency  of  labor,  171. 

Efficiency    and    morality,    115, 
117. 

Empirical  view  of  conscience, 
25. 

Equality  before  the  law,  197. 

Ethical  function  of  the  home, 
78. 

Ethics,  task  of,  2. 

Eugenics,  105. 

Evolution  of  morals,  25. 


Habits  and  ideals,  119. 
Historical  life,  the,  46. 
Home,  the,  71ff. 

biological  function  of,  75. 

changed  conditions  in,  72. 

cooperation  in,  100. 

economic  function  of,  77. 

ethical  function  of,  78. 

friction  in,  99. 

fundamental  nature  of,  74. 

indifference  to,  101. 

legislation,  105. 

and  personality,  56. 

psychological    function    of, 
76. 

religious  function  of,  78. 

sympathy  in,  103. 
Home,  52. 


Ideal,  The  Moral,  221ff. 
Ideals,  119. 
Imitation,  17. 
Impression,  37. 
Impulsive  action,  33. 


INDEX. 


245 


Indictment,  186. 
Indifference  to  home,  101. 
Individual  rights,  180. 
Individuality,  45. 

and  conscience,  22. 
moral   significance   of,   18, 

20,  21. 

Industrial  expansion,  38. 
Industry  and  business,  161. 
Intelligence,  12,  20,  165,  173. 
Intelligence  and  the  franchise, 

163. 

Internal  legislation,  183. 
International  relations,  181. 
Intuition,  24. 


Judgment,  16,  27. 
Justice,  66. 

L 

Labor, 

abuses  of,  172. 

rights  of,  1C6. 

obligation  of,  171. 

unions,  170. 

Lack  of  proportion  in  press,  127. 
Law,  106. 

equality  before  the,  197. 

and   morals,   177. 
Laxity  in  marriage,  83. 
Legal  inefficiency,  187. 
Legislation,  105,  183. 
Leisure,  137,  168. 
Liberal  education,  119. 
Love,  80. 

M 

Machine  politics,  40. 
Machinery,  39. 
Manager  of  theater,  134. 
Marriage, 

entered  into  too  lightly,  74, 
80ff. 

licenses,  106. 
Moral  complexity,  38. 
Moral  criterion,  the,  62,  67. 

and  the  home,  104. 


Moral  Control,  Iff. 

objective    and    subjective, 
15. 

In  primitive  society,  2. 
Moral  Economy,  The,  64,  227. 
Moral  education,  113. 
Moral  Ideal,  The,  221ff. 
Moral  vs.  non-moral,  31. 
Moral  obligation  of  the  press, 

125. 

Moral  principle  applied  to  vo- 
cation, 150. 
Moral  significance  of  the  stage, 

133. 
Moral  Situation,  The,  31ff. 

a  center  of  conflict,  223. 

in  civilized  society,  12. 

psychological    analysis   of, 
31. 

social  character  of,  37. 

and  social  institutions,  COff. 

vital,  34,  37. 
Moral  standard,  the,  17. 
Moral  value  of  efficiency,  117. 
Morality, 

and  amusement,  138. 

and  efficiency,  115. 

and  individuality,  21. 

and  progress,  221. 
Motive,  32. 
Moving  pictures,  136. 

N 

National  Drama  League,  135. 
Natural  selection,  19. 
Navy,  182. 

O 

Objective  control,  15,  17. 
Obligation,  50. 

of  capital,  162. 

of  labor,  171. 

of  the  school,  111. 
Opportunity,  152. 


Parents  and  children,  103. 
Peace,  183. 


246 


THE   SOCIALIZED   CONSCIENCE. 


Perry,  64,  227. 
Personal  obligation, 

to  the  church,  216. 

to  the  press,  128. 

to  the  school,  122. 

to   the   social   institutions, 

60ff. 

Personal  progress,  224,  231. 
Personality,  34,  45. 

and  the  church,  60. 

and  consumption,  118. 

and    economic    obligation, 
145. 

and  the  home,  56. 

growth  of,  5  Iff. 

and  reason,  47. 

and  the  school,  57. 

and  the  social  institutions, 
57ff. 

and  the  stage,  58,  178. 

and  the  vocation,  57. 
Personality  and  the  Moral  Cri- 
terion, 45ff. 
Physical  fitness,  51. 
Pleasure  and  pain,  26. 
Political  activity   in   primitive 

society,  4. 
Poverty,  167. 
Practical  reason,  20. 
Press,  the,  123ff. 
Primitive  activities,  3. 
Primitive  customs,  6. 
Primitive  morality,  8. 
Primitive  religion,  5. 
Progress,  221ff. 

in  the  individual,  19. 
Problems  of  the  state,  181. 
Problems  of  the  vocation,  157. 
Proportion,   lack   of   in   press, 

127. 
Property,  157. 

socialization  of, ,.158. 
Prudence,  65. 
Publicity,  173,  232. 

and  progress,  123. 
Psychological  function  of  home, 

76. 

Punishment,  191. 
Purpose,  66. 


R 

Rationalistic     view      of     con- 
science, 24. 
Realization  of  the  social  self, 

62. 
Reason,  46. 

growth  of,  18. 

an  organizing  factor,  48. 

in  personality,  47. 
Religion,  203ff. 

too  individualistic,  206. 
Religious  function  of  the  home, 

97. 

Responsibility,  9,  22,  162. 
Rights, 

of  capital,  163. 

of  labor,  166. 

and  obligations,  23,  49. 
Rites,  5. 

8 

Saloon,  the,  97. 
School,  the,  lllff. 

obligation  to,  112. 

and  personality,  56. 

a  socializing  agency,  115. 
Self  realization,  62. 

and  religion,  203. 
Sentiments,  the,  225. 
Sex, 

education,  92,  86,  121. 

immorality,  85,  106. 

impulse  commercialized,  87. 
Situation,  the  moral,  31ff. 
Social  complexity,  38. 
Social  control  of  amusements, 

140. 

"Social  efficiency,"  111. 
Social  function  of  the  home,  78. 
Social  inheritance,  the,  16,  52, 

53. 

Social  institutions,  the,  13,  55. 
Social  methods  of  the  church, 

211. 
Social  program  for  the  church, 

209. 

Social  progress,  231. 
Social  psychology,  125. 


INDEX. 


247 


Social    responsibility    for    the 

stage,  134. 
Social  self,  the,  62. 
Social  soil,  the,  37,  51ff. 
Social  taboo  of  sex  problem,  90. 
Socialization, 

of  the  child,  115. 

of  the  economic  order,  150. 

of  property,  158. 
Socialized  conscience,  the,  63, 
98,  155ff. 

and  publicity,  173. 

and  the  school,  122. 
Socialized  personality,  63. 
Socrates,  98. 
Sovereignty,  179. 
Special  school  duties,  119. 
Specialized  society,  147. 
Stage,  the,  130ff. 
Standards  of  living,  148. 
State,  the,  177ff. 

pnd  personality,  58. 

as  related  to  other  social 

institutions,  59. 
Struggle,  the  moral,  222. 
Subjective  control,  15. 
Suffrage,  195. 

Synthetic   view  of  conscience, 
27. 


Taboos,  7. 
Taxation,  191. 
"Technicalities,"  186. 
Temperamental  differences,  99. 


Theology,  209. 

Three  ways  of  learning,  8. 

U 

Understanding,  the,  19. 
Unearned  increment,  the,  160. 


Virtue,  64. 

as  applied  to  the  home,  82. 
Vital  situations,  37. 
Vltalness  of  moral  situation,  34. 
Vocation,  the,  145. 

and  personality,  57,  147. 
Volitional  action  and  the  moral 

situation,  33. 
Voluntary  action,  32. 

W 

Wages,  88,  167. 

Wants,  146,  148. 

War,  182. 

Wealth,  145. 

White  slave  traffic,  88,  96. 

Wife,  economic  dependence  of, 

102. 
Woman's   economic    condition, 

73,  94. 
Working  conditions,  168. 


"Yellow  journalism,"  126. 


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